Accused killer cop Amber Guyger.
[Speaking Truth To Empower]
So what should Black men who have police officers living nearby do? If you’re not safe within your own home where are you supposed to be safe–when you’re dead and buried?
The killing of St. Lucian native Botham Jean, inside his apartment, by Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, is the latest outrage against Black America that gives us a clear example of the dangers our communities face from trigger-happy cops.
Even when we’re minding our own business, in our own homes, we’re not safe and can be victimized and killed by police. Historically, the police mantra of “to serve and protect,” was never meant to include the sons and daughters of enslaved Africans, who’ve been systematically criminalized ever since the so-called Emancipation Proclamation, by the institution of the police.
What will it take to force the political “powers that be” to respect Black America’s humanity?
Botham Jean’s murder is the latest onslaught. Considering the information revealed so far, I believe a critical part of the story which would give it some sense is being concealed or has not yet emerged. There could well be a motive that has not yet been exposed.
This is the current narrative.
On Sep. 6., Jean, 26, was shot dead by Officer Guyger who reportedly entered the victim’s home—thinking it was her apartment, going by her account. Was Guyger intoxicated by alcohol, or some other drug? Reportedly, blood sample was taken from Guyger.
Dallas authorities should come clean, and show real accountability, by releasing those results.
At the same time is that the only possible scenario? Was Guyger intruding in Jean’s apartment for some other reason? Had there been a previous interaction or interactions? Could there actually be a motive other than this stumbling into a wrong apartment narrative?
It took days, after pressure from protests, for Officer Guyger, 30, to be charged with manslaughter, a woefully inadequate charge. She is now free after posting a $300,000-dollar bond.
In typical fashion, Dallas Police are now trying to criminalize this dead Black man—who had no criminal record, and who everyone raves about as being a solid citizen. Lawyer Lee Merritt, who represents Jean’s family, said Dallas investigators “immediately began looking to smear” Jean. Dallas Police were quick to disclose their claims of finding 10.4 grams of marijuana, and a so-called marijuana grinder.
So, what? Diversionary ploys like this always makes me wonder –in addition to poisoning the minds of potential jurors are we being steered away from other trails?
What has the presence of marijuana even if true to do with a Black man being killed by an intruder in his home? Does it exonerate Officer Guyger from shooting Jean? This is ofcourse the standard racist police demonization procedure used throughout the country. Google Trayvon Martin and marijuana; Google Michael Brown and marijuana.
Whites use drugs at greater rates than Blacks. Yet, Whites don’t get shot down dead while living in their homes by cops and then have police putting out statements about marijuana being found in their homes. Since Officer Guyger is the one who allegedly parked on the wrong floor level and entered the wrong apartment why are police not telling us about her toxicology report for possible alcohol, and, or, drug abuse? Were there also any marijuana in her home? Is she not the perpetrator in this case and should she not be the one subjected to scrutiny?
Police tell us Officer Guyger parked on the wrong floor of the housing complex—before, entering Jean’s apartment, which she thought was her own. Jean lived in apartment 1478. Officer Guyger lived in apartment 1378, directly below Jean.
Officer Guyger said she noticed the door was slightly ajar and that she saw a silhouetted figure who she said wouldn’t follow her verbal commands; so, she fired two shots. Interestingly enough, Officer Guyger didn’t say she saw a weapon, or what she perceived as a weapon, which is another standard police excuse used when police kill Black people. Don’t be surprised if she changes her evolving story.
Witnesses contradict Officer Guyger’s curious claims.
Guyger claimed Jean’s door was ajar when she arrived, before she entered to see a dark image of someone in the apartment she thought was her own. However, neighbors say they heard banging—and someone saying, “Let me in!” and “Open up!” before shots rang out. These witnesses say they then hear a man, most likely Mr. Jean, saying what were probably his last words on this earth, “Oh my God, why did you do that?”
This is why I suggest the possibility of a backstory that has not yet emerged.
The coroner’s report is essential in shedding light here. How far was Jean from Officer Guyger when he was shot? If Jean’s door was locked that means he would’ve been the one to open it. Which also means he was probably shot at close range, and that would expose Guyger’s claim of seeing a dark silhouetted figure as a lie. Most importantly, it suggest there was a motive.
By Officer Guyger’s own admission she parked on the wrong parking lot level, before entering the wrong apartment, on the wrong floor. Presumably, these parking lots are numbered to let people know what floor they are on. Wouldn’t that have been the same for the apartments?
It’s one thing making a mistake missing the numbered parking lot. It’s quite another not seeing that the number, on the door Guyger claimed was ajar, wasn’t her apartment number. This is why the blood sample given by Officer Guyger is important—and not the irrelevant nonsense about marijuana allegedly being found in Jean’s apartment.
Dallas Police were quick to release another detail: that Officer Guyger had just come off a 14-hour work shift. This is no doubt a convenient way of telling us she was extremely tired from a long day of work. This, and the police attempt to criminalize Jean, as a druggie, will probably be Guyger’s trial defense.
Of course the narrative is completely undermined if, indeed, Guyger was heard banging the door and demanding to be let in.
A Black man is not safe in his own home is the overriding conclusion.
These days, because of the bigoted buffoon who sits in the White House, it has become fashionable to attack NFL players who’re protesting racial policing—like Colin Kaepernick did—as being supposedly disrespectful to the military. But when police kill Black veterans like 50-year-old Walter Scott, in South Carolina; or like 37-year-old Elliot Williams, in Oklahoma; or like 27-year-old Anthony Hill, in Georgia; we hear nothing from these lip-serving liars who pretend to care about veterans.
This brings us to the case of 61-year-old Army veteran Arther McAfee Jr. On Jan 20, 2018, a Harrison County deputy sheriff shot and killed Mc Afee in his home. Family members had let these officers into their home because they were worried about Mr. McAfee, who suffered from PTSD and mental problems. McAfee’s sister, Ollie Holman, admitted that she let the killer-cop into their home, who eventually shot her brother dead—after he had been Tasered, and was lying on the floor.
There is also the story of 68-year-old Marine Officer Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. Chamberlain, who was also a 20-year-employee in the Westchester Corrections Department, was killed by Officer Anthony Carelli, inside his home, on November 19, 2011 in White Plains, New York. Chamberlain’s Life-Aid medical alert necklace had inadvertently activated that night. When police showed-up to his residence, Chamberlain told them he was fine, but refused to open for officers. According to a recording, made by Chamberlain’s Life-Aid device, before the police intrusion, Chamberlain prophetically said the police would kill him.
Not one of these killer-cops were held criminally accountable for the deaths of these Black veterans. Politicians, who like to talk about the “rule of law,” pretend to be deaf, dumb, and blind to these abuses of police power. In this case, can we expect the Dallas D.A. to prosecuted Officer Guyger, as this case warrants?
If history is any indication, unless serious protest pressure is sustained, we will likely see what we’ve seen in other cases: where prosecutors—and, even judges—engage in legal and judicial malfeasance. We have many examples to reference in this regard, including the cases of: Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, et.al.
This is why the historic Missouri win of Wesley Bell, who beat corrupt St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch, is so important. As was the re-election of Marilyn Mosely, in Baltimore, where she tried to hold Freddie Gray’s killers accountable. If Leticia James becomes the next attorney general of New York, those in the NYPD, who brutalize Black New Yorkers, may face real legal accountability.
In Dallas the signs are troubling. First Jean was killed in his home by police. Now police are criminalizing the victim instead of the criminal Guyger.
