Shawn Maxam is just tired of Black men dying young.
There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury.
-Harriet Ann Jacobs
UPDATE:
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory and Jonesboro Police Department has released the autopsy report of Chavis Carter’s death, which has been officially ruled a suicide. Carter, who was 21, allegedly shot himself in the head after being handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle. The whole story is very sad and is still developing. The FBI has joined the police investigation and will perform ballistics tests on the handgun found near Carter’s body.
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In a narrative that is all too familiar in America. Chavis Carter, a 21 year old African-American, died while handcuffed in the back of a police car. If that wasn’t strange enough, Carter died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Here’s a piece of the story from Think Progress:
The police report attributed the death to a self-inflicted gunshot, though when the two officers opened the squad car door, they found Carter’s hands were still cuffed behind his back. The gun, they said, was somehow missed in both searches.
“Any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, knife, razor blades, this instance it happened to be a gun,” Jonesboro Police Sergeant Lyle Waterworth said after the bizarre incident. The police believe that Chavez managed to pull out a hidden gun and shot himself in spite of the handcuffs.
This is just another incident among many where the lives of young Black men are undervalued. Where’s the outrage? Even if the gunshot was self-inflicted, which seems preposterous, there is still some culpability that has to be attributed to Jonesboro, Arkansas police department. God forbid that Carter used this “hidden” gun to shoot one of the officers. The level of publicity and awareness of the story would be immense.
The constant and continual loss of Black life is just emotionally exhausting.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my deceased little brother Shawnel. You are sorely missed.
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R.I.P. SKH
About S. Maxam
These cops “accidently” missed the gun TWICE while searching Chavis, just like the cops in Anaheim “accidently” let loose a k-9 on women and children. This is bullshit, these cops need to be held accounable (and criminally responsible) for their actions.
That said, and despite my outrage, that shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is a terrible tragedy and another story just in one week about racially-motivated police brutality. Something needs to be done about this. The worst part is that these PIGS are given a vacation for shooting an unarmed African American man. Do they really expect people to believe their story? If you’re gonna murder someone, at least try to cover it up…
This is absolutely disgusting. I hope both officers are fired and go to jail themselves.
Hiiden gun? Unlikely. But hidden gun or not, it’s pretty much impossible to shoot one’s self in the head while handcuffed behind your back. And where is this hidden gun now? Did he survive long enough after firing the shot to hide it again?
he had a gun, and they did not find it, they just found the good stuff, the stuff to prosecute with, that was not enough they had to kill him. I will never be comfortable in this world as long as there are cops like this. I will never be comfortable with all of the sheep who do nothing, we should be out in the streets protesting this new world order where things like this are common place and no one says anything. Once people say enough is enough and take to the streets this will keep going on and it will get worse. I just don’t understand what it will take until people are fed up and start doing something about it, It will take the likes of what MLK did to bring this to a halt and make the gov and the police to understand they work for US not the other way around. I am tired of hearing about people who have no defense die in custody. A homeless mentally handicapped person beat to death screaming for his father, a young black man reaching for his registration shot in the face it is ridiculous and no one is doing a thing about it, welcome to the POLICE STATE
There ARE good people in the criminal justice system. Unfortunately they seem to usually work at the Federal level, not the local one.
There’s police brutality, and then there’s murder. This wasn’t police brutality. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
So disgusting… Seriously…
And I’m also very sad to read about your brother’s death. I know this won’t help but he was a very handsome man.
Thank you for your condolences and very kind words Cha. He was a great guy.
Dis is truely a hurtful thing..I’m so tired of hearin bout my black men dieing
America. Just another police state apartheid Holocaust waiting to happen. Seriously, my ancestors fled their home countries even before the pograms and Nazis, just because of the random anti-Semitism.
But Black people must have some love for America to stay here despite all the ish they put up with everyday for YEARS. ‘Course, when the system is stacked against you, options to leave are few and far between I bet.
Anyhoo, may Chavis Carter rest in peace and may his murderers see justice but right soon.
Too many of us dying, what a sad state of affairs, nevertheless I think we should hold judgment till more concrete information about what happened exactly comes out, running to judgment to early is unfair & misguided, because things can look like something its not.
Mane thats bullshit they shot him . If they try and let this slide its just gon be another Trayvon Martin case , but i refuse for that to happen even if i have to take a stand MYSELF BY MYSELF. its not right . Racism isnt the way to go . and the police know he couldnt have killed hisself when his hands behind his back . wat kinda sense do that make ?
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