06-14-2020, 05:17 PM
This was a police murder supported by racist policies allowing deadly force in unnecessary situations. These officers were trained to murder bodies found out of place, and those bodies are disproportionately Black and brown and poor.
The details of this case are less important than what the racist policies in place produced. The system, functioning as designed and the officers acting as trained, brought two armed officers to address a traffic control issue. No one contends that the Rayshard Brooks presented a threat to anyone while asleep in his car. Nonetheless, rather than dispatch a tow truck to handle a car inconveniently parked, the system sent highly trained, multiply armed officers - the folks we say we want to protect us from terrorists, rapists, and violent gang members.
The system set up the targeted Black body, aggressively dominated by fast-acting and rapidly escalating officers, to be a target if it offered any resistance to its demands of absolute control. The racist policies governing use of force meant that any active resistance, any self-defense by a recently awakened, allegedly intoxicated man, could and would be met with deadly force.
The attitudes of the officers toward Brooks' skin color is secondary, if it matters at all. The attitude of the Wendy's employee who summoned the police towards Brooks' skin color is secondary, if it matters at all.
What matters is that when the system identified a Black body out of place in Atlanta, racist policies ensured that warriors trained to defend society were sent in response.
[Apologies for reposting - it seemed relevant here too.]
The details of this case are less important than what the racist policies in place produced. The system, functioning as designed and the officers acting as trained, brought two armed officers to address a traffic control issue. No one contends that the Rayshard Brooks presented a threat to anyone while asleep in his car. Nonetheless, rather than dispatch a tow truck to handle a car inconveniently parked, the system sent highly trained, multiply armed officers - the folks we say we want to protect us from terrorists, rapists, and violent gang members.
The system set up the targeted Black body, aggressively dominated by fast-acting and rapidly escalating officers, to be a target if it offered any resistance to its demands of absolute control. The racist policies governing use of force meant that any active resistance, any self-defense by a recently awakened, allegedly intoxicated man, could and would be met with deadly force.
The attitudes of the officers toward Brooks' skin color is secondary, if it matters at all. The attitude of the Wendy's employee who summoned the police towards Brooks' skin color is secondary, if it matters at all.
What matters is that when the system identified a Black body out of place in Atlanta, racist policies ensured that warriors trained to defend society were sent in response.
[Apologies for reposting - it seemed relevant here too.]