This past Tuesday night a CMPD officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott while serving a warrant for a different man at an apartment complex on Old Concord Rd.
The killing was not only unjust and unnecessary – it also highlighted what might be the biggest flaw in our current police system.
Here’s why:
After this past week’s events, I sincerely hope that the CMPD will do a full examination of how they train their officers, especially when it comes to using lethal force – perhaps they could implement a device like this into their arsenal:
One of our authors recently wrote a piece about “Why The Black Lives Matter Movement is Important,” that goes into much more detail about the systemic racism that exists in our nation, and other problems with our police force training.
Do you think there is a problem in our policing system? How do you think it could be solved?
For clarification, I was NOT comparing our police to jihadists or cartels. if that is your point of criticism, you misunderstood me. But, many white Americans have a hard time thinking of the police as a threat, because the police have always been on their side. But, what I was wanting for people to imagine, was what it would be like to live somewhere where the people in power were NOT on your side. Also, I don’t have a personal beef against the police. They’ve treated me mostly pretty well in my interactions with them. But, that’s because my father taught me how to treat the police so that I DON’T wind up shot to death with a planted gun beside me. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have had my instruction.
I know most people only really care about their own opinion, so y’all can just skip to the next post. But, if u actually WANT to try to understand where many BLM people are coming from, follow me for a minute down this path. Imagine being a white American and moving to a 3rd world country and living in a poor neighborhood where the local criminal element (maybe a drug cartel or jihadists) have as much power or more than the government’s police force. Imagine now that you are out one day, and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by dark-skinned, heavily armed, angry men. Imagine that dread u feel, seeing their hostility, the anger in their eyes, their lack of empathy, their inability to think of you as a real human being with real thoughts, and a real history, with family and dreams for the future. Everything that makes u the special individual you know yourself to be is completely absent from their minds. All you are is a target, and they’re going to get what they want, even if it costs u everything. Imagine knowing that there is no one to call on for help. You are at the mercy of people who don’t even think of u as a human being. If u can imagine all that, u have a pretty decent idea of what it’s like for many people of color when confronted by the police. Many people criticize the name of the BLM movement. But, reading the posts above, it’s clear that many people do NOT believe that black lives matter. I agree that Keith Scott should have done what he was told, but that doesn’t change the fact, that if he were a fluffy-haired white guy in a tie-dye t-shirt getting high in his car, he would CERTAINLY still be alive.