How De-scalation Takes a Backseat to Guns for People of Color
How the Police Gets Called to Handle a Young People’s Dispute and Settles the Dispute by Taking a Teenagers’ Life
Wow!! Everyday I awake, I pray and hope that one day or one week could pass without a police shooting anyone and especially a person of color because of late it has been occurring almost every day. You’d think since George Floyd’s murder and pending trail after the world saw how Chauvin purposely placed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck that lead to his death, that the other policemen would back away from their inhumane tactics. No, if anything all appear to have gotten worse. It appears like their is some unwritten code for the police to go into the communities of color and cause havoc whenever they can too either shoot and kill someone or incarcerate someone. They are doing both and video cameras are brining all this to the light.
In Columbus, Ohio from the police body-camera, a teenage girl could be seen wielding a knife at another person when the police officer shot and killed her upon his arrival after someone had called them to the scene. I still don’t get it! This officer is trained to shoot, so why not shot the knife out of her hand? Why is it so easy to kill a person of color who is not threatening the police officer’s life? Tons of videos have surfaced showing how when a Caucasian person is arrested due to some situation, the treatment is entirely different and a life is not lost. These differences can be seen by a blind person. It is all so obvious of the intent of the police officers when it comes to people of color. Note, this shooting occurred minutes before the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial for murdering George Floyd. Lethal force is too often the first line of defense for far too many police officers against people of color.
As expected, a protest begun as the officials with the Columbus Division of Police hurriedly released the initial video of the shooting hours after it happened, which is highly unusual in the face of multiple killings of African American just literally prior to this killing. This was done to appease the protestors and family and friends of Ma’Khia.
The teenager, Ma’Khia Brian, a 16 years old foster care child with the Franklin Country Children’s Services was described by her grandmother as a shy and quiet girl who enjoyed posting on TikTok. A week prior Duante Wright was also shot by a police officer who claims she mistook her taser for her gun. Adam Toledgo, 13 years old, hands in the air, shot by a police officer in Chicago. This list is endless toward people of color.
The Ohio police officials and White House Press Secretary expressed dread about this situation, but the communities have lived with police brutalities and murdering far too long and needs more accountability with these police officer’s misconduct as they are shielded with qualified immunity, which needs to be abolished. Protecting a police officer when he does wrong keep this ill behavior happening.
Officer Nicholas Reardon arrived to a home on a chaotic scene and within minutes all change from chaotic scene to a death scene. The police was called to help a bad situation instead make a bad situation worse and deadly. Where’s the regard for life, a young life or a human being? Ma’Khia started swinging the knife at another girl, the police officer yelled several times as Ma’Khia headed toward another girl, who fell backward, then she charged another girl who was pinned against a car. Four shots rang out as Ma’Khia fell to the ground as the knife fell from her hand to the sidewalk. Four shots!? Did it have to be four shots? One man yelled to the police officer, “You didn’t have to shoot her! She’s just a kid, man!” and Officer Reardon responded, “She had a knife. She just went at her.”
Officer Reardon was not relieved of his duty pending an investigation, he is yet patrolling the streets. He shoots four shots to kill, not to stop, and then perform CPR on Ma’Khia as a bystander yelled, “You all just jumped out of the … car and shot her!” According to an official, the state law allows police to use deadly force to protect oneself or another, this looks more like a modern day lynching.
Unfortunately, this shooting practically happened 25 minutes before the announcement of the verdict for the George Floyd trial; five miles miles from where the funeral for Andre Hill, who was killed by another Columbus police officer in December, was held earlier this year and the officer in Hill’s case, Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, is now facing trial for murder, with the next hearing scheduled for April 28; Less than a few weeks before Hill was murdered, a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot 23-year old Casey Goodson Jr. in Columbus, now under investigation. Last week, the Columbus police shot and killed a man who had a gun on him in a hospital emergency room. These facts speak for themselves regarding the disparity between how whites are treated versus people of color, aka life or murder.
One hopeful takeaway from all these killings was that the Republican governor of Ohio is considering legislation to boost police accountability along with overhaul policing to go along with an earlier version of the bill introduced after the murder of Mr. George Floyd. Also, the bill seeks to introduce and establish an oversight board for law enforcement in the state all for the purpose of transparency in the police department. This takeaway is something but not enough, more accountability and new enforced laws pertaining to police officer’s lethal behavior is needed throughout the Country.
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