Someone very close to me said that her Psychology and Law professor made this statement in one of her classes:
If you want to get away with murder your best bet is to murder a black man.
Chilling, isn’t it? The professor then went on to explain what she meant, but really, nobody but the most willfully ignorant would question her assertion. We all know that though uncomfortable to hear, what she said was nothing but the unvarnished truth. Black lives just do not matter and if you dare to say otherwise then you are really a terrorist sympathizer or worse yet, you are promoting identity politics.
I just saw Wolf Blitzer on CNN lead a discussion about whether Michael Slager was in legitimate fear for his life as Walter Scott with his 50-year-old legs ran away from him. Apparently, some on the jury believe that Slager had no option but to shoot his victim because he feared that Scott would suddenly turn around and attack him from 18 fucking feet away. This is a peculiar type of abuse — insult upon injury — that is so callously inflicted on black folks over and over again. That we can watch an injustice happen time and fucking time again, and then watch people who appear to be so reasonable, speaking in well-modulated tones, calmly discuss the merit of the argument that seeks to justify the indefensible. No outrage on behalf of the victim, no anger at the murderer, and at the end of it all conclude that yes, it is reasonable to assume that Slager feared for his life. Are you fucking kidding me?!
Yesterday a District Attorney in North Carolina decided that the murder of Keith Lamont Scott was justified. Even though the District Attorney admitted that the gun they claimed Scott had was not pointed at the cops and that the murdered man was walking away from them. The DA explained that the cops yelled at him to drop the gun, he didn’t obey so it was quite lawful to kill him in front of his wife. He was a black man, after all.
Today we are told that the case against Michael Slager is in danger of collapsing because 12 people cannot agree on what the evidence shows.
Tomorrow, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, David Clarke, Jeff Sessions and other Deplorables will be in charge of our justice system. Things will only get worse. The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach; the rage, the hatred, the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness will be constant companions.
I want someone to explain to me — like I’m in grade school — how focusing on economic justice to the exclusion of everything else will keep black folks safe from murderous cops, enabling District Attorneys, and the racist jurors who refuse to convict. Please.