The John Crawford story is worse than Ferguson
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But it's been flying under the radar:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/07/ohio-black-man-killed-by-police-walmart-doubts-cast-witnesss-account
When Ronald Ritchie called 911 from the aisles of a Walmart in western Ohio last month to report that a black man was “walking around with a gun in the store”, he said that shoppers were coming under direct threat.
“He’s, like, pointing it at people,” Ritchie told the dispatcher. Later that evening, after John Crawford III had been shot dead by one of the police officers who hurried to the scene in Beavercreek, Ritchie repeated to reporters: “He was pointing at people. Children walking by.”
One month later, Ritchie puts it differently. “At no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody,” the 24-year-old said, in an interview with the Guardian. He maintained that Crawford was “waving it around”, which attorneys for Crawford’s family deny.
Ritchie told several reporters after the 5 August shooting that he was an “ex-marine”. When confronted with his seven-week service record, however, he confirmed that he had been quickly thrown out of the US marine corps in 2008 after being declared a “fraudulent enlistment”, over what he maintains was simply a mixup over his paperwork.
Crawford, 22, turned out to be holding an unloaded BB air rifle that he had picked up from a store shelf. After Ritchie said Crawford appeared to be “trying to load” the gun, the 911 dispatcher relayed to an officer that it was believed the gunman “just put some bullets inside”.
They have pleaded with Mike DeWine, Ohio’s attorney general, to release the store’s surveillance footage of the shooting to the public. Having viewed it, they say that it disproves Ritchie’s version of what led to the deaths of both Crawford and a 37-year-old woman who collapsed and died in the ensuing panic.
DeWine has said that releasing the footage would be “playing with dynamite” and prevent any trial from being fair. He has assigned a special prosecutor from the neighbouring Hamilton County to handle the case. A grand jury will begin hearing evidence on it later this month. A Beavercreek police spokesman said in a statement: “Preliminary indications are that the officers acted appropriately under the circumstances.”
The attorneys said that they would also be lodging a complaint with DeWine after Ritchie told the Guardian that he, too, was shown the surveillance footage by officials in the attorney general’s bureau of criminal investigation, who are investigating the shooting.
“That is very improper,” said attorney Michael Wright, who said that Ritchie’s statement on what happened should have been based only on what he remembered seeing.
Ritchie said that he had also become aware of past criminal allegations against Crawford, which were dropped. He declined to say if he had learned this from DeWine’s officials. Asked four times by the Guardian whether they had told the witness about Crawford’s court record, a spokesman for DeWine declined to comment.
The Crawfords’ attorneys said they had been informed by Dr Robert Shott, deputy coroner of Montgomery County, that the 22-year-old was “shot in the back of the left arm, above the elbow, and on the left side of his torso, to the left of his belly button”. Shott did not respond to a message requesting comment. Ritchie, however, said the first shot entered Crawford’s arm from the front after he turned to the officer.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/07/ohio-black-man-killed-by-police-walmart-doubts-cast-witnesss-account
Yeah. I think it's hard to respond to this because.... i mean. Just. Where do you start?
Just another day being a black man in 'murica.
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
Some? Cops need to be held accountable.. There are "good" shootings... and there are all of these we have been reading about..
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
Some? Cops need to be held accountable.. There are "good" shootings... and there are all of these we have been reading about..
Oh that's just the cynic in me that figures no matter what the majority of cops are going to get off because that's how the system is set up. I have no faith what's so ever that any cop would be prosecuted unless public pressure demanded that they be put on trial.
I heard a few cities are testing putting cameras on cops uniforms as a deterrent to them abusing their powers. I wonder if that can become a hot political issue and get passed in most places. I mean it would benefit cops since it could record crimes while they happen, so then I wonder if that would violate citizens Miranda rights
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
Some? Cops need to be held accountable.. There are "good" shootings... and there are all of these we have been reading about..
Oh that's just the cynic in me that figures no matter what the majority of cops are going to get off because that's how the system is set up. I have no faith what's so ever that any cop would be prosecuted unless public pressure demanded that they be put on trial.
I heard a few cities are testing putting cameras on cops uniforms as a deterrent to them abusing their powers. I wonder if that can become a hot political issue and get passed in most places. I mean it would benefit cops since it could record crimes while they happen, so then I wonder if that would violate citizens Miranda rights
Does it violate the Miranda rights when mounted on their patrol cars?
We also need laws in effect that prevent officers from turning off their cameras..
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
It has always been this way. I'd link old and modern scholarship for reference if I were not at work. My dissertation argument concerns how little has changed over the past 100 years. 'Unfinished Business. "
White supremacy was conceived only after abolition and it won't stop until every black man is dead, incarcerated, or slave (meager employment) and every black woman is a sex slave.
It has always been this way. I'd link old and modern scholarship for reference if I were not at work. My dissertation argument concerns how little has changed over the past 100 years. 'Unfinished Business. "
White supremacy was conceived only after abolition and it won't stop until every black man is dead, incarcerated, or slave (meager employment) and every black woman is a sex slave.
I don't think its going to get to that level bruh. Like institutional racism is real but the problem with it is it was set up a long time ago to protect white supremacy and its tied into a lot of societal assumptions that take time to shake. The hardest part about stop institutional racism is proving that it is racism because those assumptions are so wide spread. Cops have been violating for well forever, and use to be able to say that "the black man was at fault" and everyone took their word for it. The fact that your seeing cases across the country where people are saying "enough is enough" is a good sign because it means people are questioning the idea that black men are in the wrong when dealing with police. The issue now is to try and convert some of these tragedies into convictions. And hopefully get the cameras on police even though I think that is going to be as tough as getting a few cops convicted.
You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
Some? Cops need to be held accountable.. There are "good" shootings... and there are all of these we have been reading about..
Oh that's just the cynic in me that figures no matter what the majority of cops are going to get off because that's how the system is set up. I have no faith what's so ever that any cop would be prosecuted unless public pressure demanded that they be put on trial.
I heard a few cities are testing putting cameras on cops uniforms as a deterrent to them abusing their powers. I wonder if that can become a hot political issue and get passed in most places. I mean it would benefit cops since it could record crimes while they happen, so then I wonder if that would violate citizens Miranda rights
Does it violate the Miranda rights when mounted on their patrol cars?
We also need laws in effect that prevent officers from turning off their cameras..
yeah but what happens when an officer enters someone's home and doesn't notice evidence in the open but then on reviewing the tape he does? Does that count as him seeing it in plain sight or is the reviewing of the tape for evidence equivalent to a search of the premises? I am sure people in the legal profession can think of more "what ifs" like that that will make recording a civil rights question?
Also I will say it aren't people tired of being recorded. Cops won't need ID's they will just let the computer/camera face match suspects. So how long until that leads to people being arrested for something their look a like has done? Like Cameras are going to have to be put into the system slowly because its new legal territory.
well as now nothing is policing the police tho...
most minorities, especially blacks, won't even call the police for help out of fear of them.
something needs to be done...
most minorities, especially blacks, won't even call the police for help out of fear of them.
something needs to be done...
It has always been this way. I'd link old and modern scholarship for reference if I were not at work. My dissertation argument concerns how little has changed over the past 100 years. 'Unfinished Business. "
White supremacy was conceived only after abolition and it won't stop until every black man is dead, incarcerated, or slave (meager employment) and every black woman is a sex slave.
I don't think its going to get to that level bruh. Like institutional racism is real but the problem with it is it was set up a long time ago to protect white supremacy and its tied into a lot of societal assumptions that take time to shake. The hardest part about stop institutional racism is proving that it is racism because those assumptions are so wide spread. Cops have been violating for well forever, and use to be able to say that "the black man was at fault" and everyone took their word for it. The fact that your seeing cases across the country where people are saying "enough is enough" is a good sign because it means people are questioning the idea that black men are in the wrong when dealing with police. The issue now is to try and convert some of these tragedies into convictions. And hopefully get the cameras on police even though I think that is going to be as tough as getting a few cops convicted.You heard about the guy who was shot in the back because he was cosplaying with a blunt sword prop?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/15/3567345/why-was-this-black-man-killed-by-cops-in-utah/
I don't know if its always been this fucked up and the internet and social media is making it more apparent or this is all an horrible new trend like mass shootings. Either way this is becoming absurd, some of these cops need to go to jail.
Some? Cops need to be held accountable.. There are "good" shootings... and there are all of these we have been reading about..
Oh that's just the cynic in me that figures no matter what the majority of cops are going to get off because that's how the system is set up. I have no faith what's so ever that any cop would be prosecuted unless public pressure demanded that they be put on trial.
I heard a few cities are testing putting cameras on cops uniforms as a deterrent to them abusing their powers. I wonder if that can become a hot political issue and get passed in most places. I mean it would benefit cops since it could record crimes while they happen, so then I wonder if that would violate citizens Miranda rights
Does it violate the Miranda rights when mounted on their patrol cars?
We also need laws in effect that prevent officers from turning off their cameras..
yeah but what happens when an officer enters someone's home and doesn't notice evidence in the open but then on reviewing the tape he does? Does that count as him seeing it in plain sight or is the reviewing of the tape for evidence equivalent to a search of the premises? I am sure people in the legal profession can think of more "what ifs" like that that will make recording a civil rights question?
Also I will say it aren't people tired of being recorded. Cops won't need ID's they will just let the computer/camera face match suspects. So how long until that leads to people being arrested for something their look a like has done? Like Cameras are going to have to be put into the system slowly because its new legal territory.
Racial profiling by police isn't institutionalized racism. That's blatant discrimination by definition.
When discussing institutionalized racism, we're talking about funding public schools based upon the tax income of a district where the bad schools just-so-happen to be located in predominately poor, minority districts. The hardest part of stopping institutional racism is that the people who benefit from it willingly or unknowingly have to actively sacrifice/redistribute their gains to rectify the problem. Conservatives will do this after you pry the guns from their cold dead hands.
And it's already that bad. Single black mothers selling their bodies to put food in the mouths of their children has existed since slavery. Even black men benefit from this now. In black culture we talk about not making a ho into a housewife or "sugardaddies," but that kind of self-destructive behavior has existed since DuBois told us we needed to remove the veil.
Oh and
---
What's interesting about these police executions is that they created a meta-narrative concerning black-on-black crime as if it were as much an injustice/pandemic as the former. That's a massive red herring, BUT the misalignment(dare I say non-conformity) of black men here in the states definitely contributes to the multifaceted problem.
---I was just reading a discussion about how as a society we tend to take a current event and then pathologize it for black people.
What's interesting about these police executions is that they created a meta-narrative concerning black-on-black crime as if it were as much an injustice/pandemic as the former. That's a massive red herring, BUT the misalignment(dare I say non-conformity) of black men here in the states definitely contributes to the multifaceted problem.
Some of the examples obviously relating to Ferguson and "black-on-black crime", or Adrian Peterson spanking his kid is "something black men do", or on the subject about gay athletes turns into "gay players in the NBA/NFL won't come out because the predominantly black league hates gays because it's something black people do".
Meanwhile, you don't hear the same pathologizing on white Wall Street where the entire system is corrupt...
---I was just reading a discussion about how as a society we tend to take a current event and then pathologize it for black people.
What's interesting about these police executions is that they created a meta-narrative concerning black-on-black crime as if it were as much an injustice/pandemic as the former. That's a massive red herring, BUT the misalignment(dare I say non-conformity) of black men here in the states definitely contributes to the multifaceted problem.
Some of the examples obviously relating to Ferguson and "black-on-black crime", or Adrian Peterson spanking his kid is "something black men do", or on the subject about gay athletes turns into "gay players in the NBA/NFL won't come out because the predominantly black league hates gays because it's something black people do".
Meanwhile, you don't hear the same pathologizing on white Wall Street where the entire system is corrupt...
Martha Stewart didn't even break stride on her way to her minimum security prison or wherever she went.
Some of the examples obviously relating to Ferguson and "black-on-black crime", or Adrian Peterson spanking his kid is "something black men do", or on the subject about gay athletes turns into "gay players in the NBA/NFL won't come out because the predominantly black league hates gays because it's something black people do".
Meanwhile, you don't hear the same pathologizing on white Wall Street where the entire system is corrupt...
I'm not sure I agree. "Rich Wall Street white guy" has been a rhetorical punching bag for a long time now, because he taps into racial, class and gender grievances. The image of the besuited cigar lighting WASPy establishment villain is a well entrenched one. Various advocacy groups have seen the relative success of the black civil rights movement and tried to piggyback on that success by slipping "white" in front of "male" in gender debates, for instance, because it immediately conjures the image of the smug establishment asshole, without bothering to define as such. And I would say there's definitely an image transfer going on there in the white privilege debate in many corners.
You can argue that this sort of thing disproportionately affects black people to a significant degree, and I'd agree with you. But I don't think anybody escapes being generalized.
Let me know when "Rich Wall Street white guy" has to fight against institutionalized racism and discrimination. You'll see a Bernie Madoff in handcuffs once every 10 years, at best.
Let me know when "Rich Wall Street white guy" has to fight against institutionalized racism and discrimination. You'll see a Bernie Madoff in handcuffs once every 10 years, at best.
Sure, and like I said I'm not trying to equate the two situations. Just that the idea that generalizations along the lines of "_____ is just something ______ people do" are unique to any one group strikes me as untrue.
No indictments, of course:
http://www.whio.com/news/news/crime-law/special-grand-jury-selected-john-crawford-case/nhRwM/
A special grand jury has decided not to indict the officers in the Beavercreek Walmart shooting. The grand jury found officers were justified in their actions. - See more at: http://www.whio.com/news/news/crime-law/special-grand-jury-selected-john-crawford-case/nhRwM/#sthash.lzpWpJsS.dpuf
http://www.whio.com/news/news/crime-law/special-grand-jury-selected-john-crawford-case/nhRwM/
UPDATE: John Crawford dropped his toy gun before he was shot. No indictment.
Video at the link:
http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6839953/video-john-crawford-walmart-police-beavercreek-ohio-toy-gun
The video doesn't show any of the behavior described in the 911 call that sent cops to the scene. The 911 call, placed by a man named Ronald Ritchie (who is white), said that Crawford was "pointing it at people" and "like loading [the gun] right now." While the video only shows what happened in the minute before Crawford was killed, he wasn't doing anything like that when police shot him
Video at the link:
http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6839953/video-john-crawford-walmart-police-beavercreek-ohio-toy-gun
Tasha Thomas was reduced to swearing on the lives of her relatives that John Crawford III had not been carrying a firearm when they entered the Walmart in Beavercreek, near Dayton, to buy crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars on the evening of 5 August.
“You lie to me and you might be on your way to jail,” detective Rodney Curd told Thomas, as she wept and repeatedly offered to take a lie-detector test. After more than an hour and a half of questioning and statement-taking, Curd finally told Thomas that Crawford, 22, had died.
“As a result of his actions, he is gone,” said the detective, as she slumped in her chair and cried.
Crawford was talking on his cellphone to LeeCee Johnson, the mother of his two sons, when he was shot by Williams. Curd repeatedly suggested to Thomas that Johnson, who was in fact at home in Cincinnati, may also have been in the Walmart store and that Crawford was there to attack her.
Curd also pushed Thomas on whether she was intoxicated, asking her: “Have you been drinking? Drugs? Your eyes are kind of messed-up looking”. After she told him that Crawford had smelled of marijuana, Curd took down notes. He went on to ask whether Crawford had been suicidal.
JFC
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/14/john-crawford-girlfriend-questioned-walmart-police-shot-dead?CMP=share_btn_tw