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The city of Minnesota was already on edge due to the murder trial of Derek Chauvin—but the Sunday police killing of Daunte Wright has made that situation more potentially explosive by reigniting passions in the street between police and the public.
In 2021, American policing continues to be “a clear and present danger” to the lives of Black people all across the country.
None of us, who are non-white, are immune from the terroristic threat of murderous policing. Daily, the tally of dead Black bodies killed by police continue to pile up.
Still, many Americans refuse to speak up.
In less than 24 hours, police in Virginia and Minnesota have made it clear we have a long way to go before we can arrest the epidemic virus of police racism. The “license to kill” attitude white officers, and their non-white lackeys, deploy is used at will to satisfy the monstrous appetites of these criminal cops.
In Virginia, we saw officers from the Windsor Police Department abuse their power and violate the rights of Black Latino Army Lt. Caron Nazario by pepper-spraying him over a fictitious traffic violation.
In Minnesota, not far from where George Floyd was tortured and murdered by killer-cop Derek Chauvin, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, was stopped, allegedly, because he had an air freshener hanging from his interior mirror and had an expired registration. He was killed by an unnamed female officer from the Brooklyn Center Police Department.
Some will say each of these cases must be weighed on their own merit. True enough.
But, if we are really being honest, we can say this with absolute certainty: racial policing is the one thing connecting all these horrific stories. Even the Centers For Disease Control is now admitting racism is unhealthy for Blacks and other non-white people.
Over the weekend, we were confronted with video, which seems to have been suppressed from the public, (a popular police tactic) documenting the unjustified criminal actions of these cops from the Windsor Police Department who abused Army Lt. Caron Nazario back in December.
These officers pulled over Lt. Nazario—at gunpoint—because they claimed he didn’t have a rear license plate. Nazario did have a temporary license that was visible but was conveniently not seen by these cops.
Lt. Nazario, correctly, put his hands outside the car where he could have easily been handcuffed. But one of these officers then threatened Nazario’s life before repeatedly pepper-spraying him.
After this he tells Nazario to take off the seatbelt and get out of the car. Why not? After all, when you have just been pepper-sprayed in the eyes you can see clearly now can’t you?
The officers then tell Lt. Nazario to get on the ground. What the hell would be the purpose of this other than to humiliate Nazario—just like police revel in doing to Black people?
Since he was pepper-sprayed he could have been handcuffed and put into the police car. But the bigoted brutes in badges can never pass up an opportunity to humiliate a Black person—even one who is busy fighting for the damn country.
Do you remember when Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality, how we heard a lot of noise about disrespecting veterans? But somehow when police are busy murdering Black veterans like: Kenneth Chamberlain, Walter Scott, Elliott Williams, Arther McAfee Jr. and Anthony Hill we hear nothing from these modern-day Republicans and these so-called Christians “conservatives.”
Apparently, none of the lives of these Black veterans matter to these folk.
All of the evidence tells us police take pleasure in terrorizing and murdering Black people. It is a rite of passage for these serial cop-killers of Black people.
This same sick police mentality that led to the outrage Lt. Nazario endured also caused Sunday’s killing of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis.
One would think with the trial of Derek Chauvin—the murderer of George Floyd—going on maybe the police there would be a bit more circumspect with their attacks on Blacks. Obviously, not.
In Monday’s press conference, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said the killing of Wright was due to “an accidental discharge.” Black life is that cheap for these people. Keep in mind, Wright’s girlfriend was also in the car.
The other question here is why did this officer decide a Taser was necessary anyway?
In Wright’s case, as police often do after they murder us, they sought to criminalize him with talk about a warrant. Interestingly enough, when Chief Gannon was asked today, about the warrant he said it was a misdemeanor. Of course, if Wright had any serious criminal history, we would already know all about it, unlike the fact that we know nothing about the officer who ended his life.
After these police killings, we often hear talk from politicians, and supposed experts, about better police training.
Are they going to train these white killer-cops how not to be racist? If not, how exactly is training going to stop the criminalization–and victimization of Black people? The hard truth is the police from the beginning were trained to treat us worse than these folks treat some animals.
Another thing we must refute is the archaic “few bad apples” narrative.
The problems in American policing, relative to the attacks on Blacks Americans, fundamentally have nothing to do with a few bad officers. Its about the ongoing history of systemic racism in policing.
We often hear this tired talk about most officers being good and decent. Even assuming we agree with that notion, what does that matter if these good and decent officers stay silent (unlike the honorable officers inside the ESOP) when their fellow officers are on the streets violating the rights of people by brutalizing and killing them?
The police who protect criminal cops and then complain about being generalized with those murderers cause their profession to be despised. They can change the culture of policing if they choose to—instead of engaging in lies and grotesque gaslighting.
The police could take some responsibility and admit to their historic role of terrorizing Black America to arrest the development of our people in furtherance of white supremacy. However, given the dishonest nature of police brass and police unions nationally that is highly unlikely.
Those of us who care about justice—unlike the political phonies who give us empty rhetoric about “law and order” and the “rule of law”—must continue to fight this pernicious prejudice within American policing that targets Blacks.
American Policing must change by whatever means.
A good place to start now is for us to push Congress to pass The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
