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“We need all the facts!”
“He probably had an arrest record!”
“Should have just done what he was told!”
“He was reaching for a gun!”
These were once again the arguments used by many to find justification for the execution of Terence Crutcher in the middle of a Tulsa street earlier this week. On video, while surrounded by multiple law enforcement officers. He was unarmed.
Today, prosecutors filed manslaughter charges against the officer who pulled the trigger and fatally wounded Terrence Crutcher. These prosecutors have the facts, they’ve seen the video, interviewed those involved, and have come to the conclusion so many are unwilling to accept. That Terence Crutcher’s life was taken without justification. Now the jury will decide the fate of Betty Shelby.
So for all those who believed in some way that he deserved what he got, does his life matter yet? Can you dig up any more justification that perhaps these prosecutors missed? Does this man’s family finally have the right to be upset, to mourn, to blame the police?
Or is he still just another dead black man who somehow deserved it?
If his life does matter now, will the next one?
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Photo:Getty Images
For that matter willMiguel Williams, Eric Banks, Anthony Thorp. Bruce Smith, Eddie Huff, Maurice McKnight, Ahmed Morgan, EVER matter?
Does Justin Carr matter yet? Without googling it, does anyone know who Justin Carr is?
When did it stop mattering? Does the charge obviate the need for complaint? Obviously not or there wouldn’t be this article. Where are the articles and protests for unarmed white people killed by police? That would be the other side of the coin wouldn’t it? Black lives are the only lives that matter because that’s the only time people complain. What does the charge do to the complaint that the problem is systemic? It’s not “systemic” see. The system works. I doubt very many people who say the problem is systemic will change their minds either even while defending the… Read more »
So just to be clear, Terence Crutcher still doesn’t matter to you? See John painting people as criminals just to justify their murder doesn’t really fly either. I am not talking about bad guys who get killed, I am talking about unarmed black men who are repeatedly getting killed while surrounded by multiple officers. Lets run off a list of crimes that deserved execution over the last few years: Selling cigarettes without a license. Selling CD’s without a license. Breaking down in the middle of the road. Having a concealed carry permit and telling the officer about it. Seems like… Read more »
@ J.W. Holland “So just to be clear, Terence Crutcher still doesn’t matter to you? ” Just to be clear. No more and no less than any other person wrongfully killed whether by police or not. “37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the U.S. population (we call this disproportionate) ” In Chicago, 90% of the people murdered live in 3 out of 50 districts. What is the “race” of the people who live there? It’s a fallacy to compare it to the proportion of people and that’s why… Read more »
The sad fact is that many White people (not all) do not see most non=Whites, especially Black people as human beings. Rather, they (Whites) see them (Blacks)as sub human individuals or in some cases, animals who are unworthy of any degree of human dignity.
I do not agree with this at all. I think your sweeping notion speaking for any white person like this is wrong. I could say the same thing about black people who are also devout racists against whites. Doesn’t mean I would because I personally have only seen on TV what some of them do. Of course you have morons like white supremacists and we hate them too. Perhaps blacks hate theirs too. I would hope so, and assume so.
It matters to me. I’m tired of the watching these videos. No human being of any color deserves this.
Agreed!