Double Standard, Double Trouble
Never has the double standard in the American justice system seemed so apparent than this turbulent week.
Opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement might say that Jacob Blake of Kenosha, Wis. had a knife in his car.
Therefore, police had justification to shoot him seven times in the back in front of his children.
Opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement might say that Jacob Blake had a criminal record.
Allegedly, he sexually assaulted someone.
Allegedly, he had a protective order against him.
Therefore, police had justification to shoot him seven times in the back while his children watched in horror from the vehicle.
Critics of Black Lives Matter might even call Jacob Blake a thug, a rough criminal or a miscreant.
Therefore, police had every right to shoot the brother seven times in the back.
You know, George Floyd had a criminal record?
Therefore, police in Minneapolis had every right to kill him in a torturous way.
Floyd even allegedly appeared in a pornographic film, recorded gangsta rap music with D.J. Screw and the Screwed Up Click.
After all, only thugs and criminals record rap music.
Therefore, he deserved to die.
Sure, Breonna Taylor should not have gotten shot to death while she slept in her Louisville apartment.
But didn’t Taylor live in a dope house.
Therefore, police had every right to bust the door down with a no-knock warrant and kill that sister.
What did you say?
The apartment Taylor slept in was not a dope house.
Oh well, we made a mistake.
As a matter of fact, no we did not.
Her boyfriend should not have shot at cops even though he did not know that cops were shooting in the apartment because of the no-knock warrant and the fact that he said the police officers never identified themselves as cops.
However, the cops said they did, so that’s the end of the story because cops never lie.
When it comes to an African-American’s life, there is always a justification for their shooting or death.
But it seems like some of those same people who make every excuse as to why police had justification to shoot unarmed African-Americans reward some White people for exhibiting the same alleged thuggish behavior that they use to describe unarmed African-Americans killed by police officers.
When a White person actually shows a penchant for thuggish behavior, thug gets replaced with patriot.
Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse killed two protestors, and wounded one more, during protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
The young Kyle Rittenhouse already has a rap sheet a mile long.
Yet, people on television like Fox News host Tucker Carlson and may others on social media, have defended Kyle Rittenhouse and some have begun raising money for his legal defense via GoFundMe.
That behavior sounds eerily similar to the treatment that George Zimmerman received when he killed Trayvon Martin in Florida.
Although, Zimmerman initiated the confrontation and pulled the trigger, Martin got the label as thug because he smoked weed and had gotten suspended from school.
Likewise, Kyle Rittenhouse has received the royal treatment from the racists of the country despite the embarrassment that is his criminal history.
An African-American man, allegedly with a knife in his car, gets shot in the back seven times leaving him paralyzed as his children scream in horror.
Contrarily, a mother drives her underage son to the same city and gives him access to an assault rifle.
Police officers in Kenosha, Wisc. ignore the young man with the assault weapon even though he is not old enough to openly carry a weapon.
He then kills two protestors and wounds one more and police officers looked at this armed child as someone whose presence was appreciated.
Critics of Black Lives Matter will say that Jacob Blake should not have resisted arrest.
But some of those same people have praised Kyle Rittenhouse despite the fact that he was charged with disobeying police officers two years ago, pleading no contest.
In 2016, Kyle Rittenhouse got charged with the class A misdemeanor of operating a firearm while intoxicated. He pleaded not guilty. The charge was dismissed but read in. The case is closed.
Also in 2016, Kyle Rittenhouse faced a class B misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. He pleaded no contest. The case is closed.
In the same year, Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with a misdemeanor charge of possession of THC. He pleaded not guilty but the charge was read in.
Also in 2016, Kyle Rittenhouse faced a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and pleaded not guilty. The charge was dismissed but read in.
That’s an impressive and extremely thuggish rap sheet for someone that allegedly started his or her thuggery and life of crime at around 13 years old.
Nevertheless, people like Carlson are treating Kyle Rittenhouse like a hero, and some of those same people do not understand why people have gotten violent in the streets.
If an African-American had the rap sheet that Kyle Rittenhouse has attained, he would be the poster child of what is wrong with the African-American community.
People would blame his mother.
People would put him in a group home.
People would ask where his father was in the equation?
And politicians might have used his story in a Willie Horton type of way to scare Middle America into thinking that African-American males posed a threat to their safety.
Political pundits would criticize drug use in inner city communities.
But instead, to some Kyle Rittenhouse is a hero.
To some he is a patriot.
At the worse, Kyle Rittenhouse is just a trouble child with mental health issues who deserves a 15th chance and should not be thrown in jail because he would not survive.
I saw a meme that if Jacob Blake had been in jail for sexual assault he would not have gotten shot seven times in the back while his children watched in horror from his car.
Likewise, if Kyle Rittenhouse had been in jail or a youth detention center for his four years of alleged thuggish criminality, then two protestors in Wisconsin would still be alive and the other victim would have no wounds to recover from.
But this is America so what in the world am I thinking about?
