We finally saw a police shooting handled properly. The cop had no reason to shoot the victim. The government’s prosecutor was unequivocal in charging the cop with murder. The cop’s partner did not go along with a bogus story to cover up the crime. The police union didn’t come out swinging in defense of murder. The city’s police chief was even forced to resign. All of this happened because the cop was a Black man and his victim a White woman from Australia. It’s not that the system is incapable of working — it simply refuses to work on behalf of Black people (victims) and that is why the movement to buy and build Black isn’t optional, for us.
Officer Mohamed Noor was the Black Minneapolis policeman who happened to shoot Justine Diamond in July of 2017. When Noor shot Diamond he and his partner did not have their body cameras rolling. There was video when Samuel DuBose was shot but ultimately, it didn’t matter. Diamond was unarmed but so are 60% of Black women killed by the police. Diamond needed assistance when she was shot just as Terence Crutcher did. Diamond posed no threat when she was shot but neither did Philando Castile. The system is not broken and it certainly isn’t blind — it functions and sees color quite well.
Today, I learned no charges would be filed against the two officers involved in Alton Sterling’s death. I’m not surprised. I never am, in fact. Seeing that newsflash today reminded me that we as Black people cannot afford to trust the system — we must trust each other and build power collectively. Yes, we should make it a priority to vote for District Attorneys who believe in justice but we can’t trust our ultimate fate to a system that, for centuries, has clearly demonstrated its indifference to Black suffering.
Time after time police kill Black people who are generally poor or of modest means. They cannot fight back from the grave and their families are left with few options. What would happen if we took the $1.2 trillion in buying power that we have and refused to keep investing in a larger White culture that is indifferent to our suffering. What if Black owned businesses could begin hiring and in doing so wipe out Black unemployment? What if we created thousands of new Black millionaires in the next few years? Racism would still exist but we would at least have the ability to fight back and take care of our ourselves, in a country openly hostile to Black people.
The prosecutor who charged Noor said, “There is no evidence that Officer Noor encountered a threat, appreciated a threat, investigated a threat or confirmed a threat that justified his decision to use deadly force. Instead Officer Noor recklessly and intentionally fired his handgun from the passenger seat in disregard for human life.” I can’t recall an equally strong condemnation of an officer after killing an unarmed Black person. The ongoing drama between the police and Black people has never been about the law — this is about race. We should absolutely vote en masse to correct flaws in the system but ultimately we have to build power from within. To buy and build Black is not a choice — it’s a survival tactic in America.]]>
About Post Author
