Officials in Columbia, Ohio, are investigating the deadly police shooting of a 13-year-old boy on Wednesday night. According to the police department, officers were trying to detain the boy and another person following reports of an armed robbery. They say the boy identified as a Tyree King pulled a gun from his waistband. One officer shot him multiple times.
Geist was doing his job as he dutifully mouthed the words written for him and displayed on his teleprompter. That done, “And in other news...” he droned on. Another black child killed by cops. Shrug. No breaking news banner; uncritical acceptance of the cop’s version of events, no outrage, no care for the life lost.
Now back to breaking news as we expect Donald Trump to make a speech in an hour.
Three young men fit the description (excuse me while I get sick for a minute)
Boys ran (well then, they must be guilty! running from Ohio police)
Boy pulled gun from waistband (didn’t Tamir Rice do the same?)
Police feared for his life and shot multiple times (what’s new??)
“Gun” turns out to be a useless toy
“Suspects” (read “innocent black boys”) questioned and released
Police Chief holds press conference to let us know that BB guns are really, really dangerous:
"Our officers carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon," said Jacobs, adding, "It turns out not to be a firearm, but as you can see, it looks like a firearm that can kill you."
Pause a minute: How many times have you seen or heard of cops killing a white child for having BB guns? Surely it’s not only black children who play with them? Thousands of BB guns of all types are sold in the US every year. Do they only look dangerous when held by little black hands?
But back to this cover-your-ass story fed to a disinterested nation.
The cops would have you believe that three young black boys see the cops coming and they run, and a kid who knows that he only has a useless BB gun turns around and tries to pull that useless toy to...to do what? Does that even begin to make sense?! But cops continue to peddle this shit and get away with it because the nation just doesn’t care. You know in your heart — we ALL know — that no way did Michael Brown turn around and try to attack a cop who he KNEW was trying to murder him; who had already shot him and continued to shoot at him as he ran. We ALL know that the murderer Timothy Loehmann was not in fear for his life when he murdered young Tamir Rice.
One city official had this to say about this latest murder:
“Why is it that a 13-year-old would have nearly an exact replica of a police firearm on him in our neighborhoods?” Ginther said. “An eighth grader, involved in very, very dangerous conduct, in one of our neighborhoods.”
Decoded: Black kids have no business playing with toy guns. Repeat: Toys guns were not made for little black hands. Truth is, I agree with him. No parent of a black child should allow them to play with toy guns. ONLY because I understand that we do have a two-tiered justice system. ONLY because I know that no cop is going to think twice about shooting a black child with a toy gun that was not meant for his hands.
Tamir Rice, 13-year-old killed by police who claimed they mistook toy for the real thing
Keston Charles, 15-year-old shot at 16 times by police while surrendering because they claimed his BB gun was the real thing
Andy Lopez, 13-year-old killed by cops while carrying a fake gun
Dedric Colvin, 14-year-old shot by cops who “mistook” toy for the real thing
Cameron Tillman, 14-year-old killed for having a BB in the home
Tyre King, 13-year-old killed by cops who claimed he had a “dangerous-looking” fake gun
John Crawford III killed in Walmart for holding a toy gun
Jermaine McBean killed after buying a pellet gun from a pawn shop
Wanna guess what all the aforementioned had in common?
So now Tyre King is a hashtag: #JusticeforTyreKing. Just one of the 761 people killed by law enforcement officers this year…one of the 41 killed this month. And the beat goes on.
Already the enablers and the apologists are out in full force. They already know that Tyre was guilty of robbery and that his parents bear the blame for not teaching him right and for allowing him to have such a “dangerous weapon.” They already know that the cop who killed him —who's killed before — had no option but to take him out. “To neutralize” him. No way could Officer Mason have pulled back and called for help, right?
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#TyreKing was a 13 yr old child, and people celebrating his #ExtrajudicialExecution based upon unproven hearsay of cops is sickening.
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