Long before the 2016 campaign season began, I, along with others who are not part of the mainstream media, have been calling for a comprehensive reform or our judicial system. At present, low income and impoverished Americans are punished more severely than the wealthy and powerful. Black Americans are treated differently than whites, and justice no longer wears a blindfold.
Republicans are in denial of the facts. Many Democrats fail to address the problem with sufficient concern. Our nation is returning to conditions which existed prior to the events of the 1960’s when racial equality was the greatest movement in our nation’s history. The civil rights movement was a beginning, and has yet to see its conclusion.
Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960’s, I knew of many instances when my black friends were abused by law enforcement. Falsification of reports regarding the events, and fallacious reports of altercations related to these incidents, protected a few law enforcement officers who abused their authority. Today, with the advent of cameras on every phone, the truth is exposed.
On Wednesday evening, Tyre King was shot and killed by Columbus Ohio police; he was 13 years old. The police were responding to a call which described an armed robbery. When the young man pulled a suspected gun from his waistband, the officers fired several shots, killing Tyre on the scene. After the incident, law enforcement revealed that “upon further inspection, it was determined to be a BB gun with an attached laser site,” according to a statement from the Columbus police.
Tyre is the second youngest victim of a police shooting in our nation in 2016.
“We consider it a tragedy when something like this happens,” Kim Jacobs, the Columbus police chief, said at a news conference Thursday morning. “This is the last thing that a police officer wants to do in their career.”
A question: “Why does law enforcement believe that shooting first and asking questions later when black men and women are involved is the proper response.” Are law enforcement officers so badly trained that killing a suspect is their first response?
Ciara Meyer, a 12-year-old in Pennsylvania, was murdered earlier this year during an eviction. Why? Last year, Jeremy Mardis, a six-year-old shot while his father tried to flee officers in Louisiana.
Is this effective law enforcement?
The greatest concern is that when black men and women face trial in a court of law, they are far more likely to receive more severe punishment than whites. If those white men or women are affluent, they generally receive little or no punishment. Government officials are the only Americans who face no punishment.
“Any loss of life is tragic, but the loss of a young person is particularly difficult,” Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said at the briefing Thursday. “As a mayor and a father, the loss of a 13-year-old in the city of Columbus is troubling.”
“Troubling?” Is that what his family is feeling? Is this a fair description of the agony caused by a “shoot first” policy?
Guns are the greatest evil in America. More than 33,000 innocent Americans die from gunshot each year; more than any other form of homicide, and far more than any other nation in the entire world.
When law enforcement is involved, it is most likely unforgivable. The American people expect them to be trained sufficiently to “protect and to serve,” and not to shoot first.
Even if a man who knows nothing about our nation and its government is elected on November 8th, judicial reform will be a demand from the majority. It is way past time to address one of our nation’s greatest problems.
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Op Ed
By James Turnage
Follow me on twitter: @jamesturnagenov
The Truth With No Restrictions 