Thoughts
After the deadly shooting of Rayshard Brooks at the Atlanta Wendy's my mind is a jumble with the thoughts about this. Here was a situation that never should have escalated to the point of Mr. Brooks' death, and it becomes clear that this was another case of racism.
Let's imagine that I was the sleeping person in the Wendy's line. Maybe I had too much to drink and Wendy's is so slow that yes, I fell asleep in the line. What if an employee of Wendy's saw this sleeping white woman blocking the order line in the parking lot? Would he or she have called the police on me? I imagine a Wendy's employee stepping beside my car, asking if I was okay, and then instructing me to move my car. End of story? No. They probably would have offered me a cup of water to make sure I was okay.
First off, everyone knows the way the police have treated black people. Even a nice cop will incite fear in the approached black person. There was no need to ever call the police, to begin with, on Mr. Brooks. But they did.
Mr. Brooks was found to have an alcohol level just slightly about the legal limit and placed under arrest for driving under the influence. He wasn't driving. He was parked. Maybe he knew the condition he was in and pulled into Wendy's to get food in his system to help to sober up. In other words, having been in a not great state of mind, he took precautions to fix it. I give him credit for that. He didn't continue to drive.
The argument here is that he had been driving or how would he have gotten to this spot. Fine. Would they have arrested me for the same act? I don't know, but my gut thinks, 'No.'
Although Mr. Brooks started with his "Yes, Sirs; No, Sirs" and full cooperation in the arrest, something changed. He resisted, grabbed the stun gun, and ran off. He pointed the stunner toward the policeman but never actually shot it. I read a defense from an officer stating that "IF" he had stunned the policeman, he could have taken his gun and have been a threat. But as I said, he didn't shoot it. Plus, the officer had a partner with him.
Different actions by the police were now needed.
- Let him run away. They have his car, so it would not have been hard to find him.
- Chase, at the risk of being stunned.
- Use the other officers stunner to calm him.
- Shoot the leg.
I had an officer friend who once told me that the police are trained to shoot to kill. I argued, why not injure him, in which he repeated, "We are trained to shoot to kill." Maybe it's time for some new training.
Finally, please do not take this as victim blaming, but I have to mention it. Every black parent trains their sons on how to act around the police. Everyone knows that some cops are racist and do not act as they should, so why did Rayshard Brooks resist arrest and run? Maybe he was scared. Maybe he was drunk and not thinking straight. Either way, I'm sure his mama is crying out in anguish, "Why didn't you listen to me! Why?"
Music
First up is Twisted Sister with, "We're Not Gonna Take It."
Next up, is Michael Jackson with "Black or White."
