What a Difference a Day (I Mean Race and Gender) Makes
It sure is funny how the judicial system works in America for people of various races and different genders.
Often when a White officer thinks that an unarmed African-American suspect is suspicious and they feel threatened, deadly force is often seen as necessary in the court of law as well as the court of public opinion.
However, when an officer of color thinks that a blonde White woman is a threat, his assertion is scoffed at and he is subsequently convicted of murder.
Furthermore, when an officer kills a White woman, who he labeled as a threat, it seems that the Blue Lives Matter people go silent and disappear.
I guess the only blue lives that actually matter is for those who have blue eyes.
Apparently, the Blue Lives Matter movement does not support all of the boys in blue.
On Tuesday, former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was convicted of murdering an unarmed White woman who had approached his squad car after calling 911.
The woman, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, 40, called 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.
Damond was a dual citizen of the United States and Australia.
After responding to the 911 call, Noor and his partner drove down an alley behind Damond’s home.
The convicted police officer testified that he heard a loud bang on the police car, which scared him and his partner.
Noor then said that he saw a woman raising her arms appear at his partner’s window.
The former officer said that he feared for his life and his partner’s life.
As a result, Noor fired his weapon, killing Damond.
The killing of Damond led to protests in America and Australia.
First of all, I am glad that Damond and her loved-ones got justice and hopefully closure.
I do not want to see any unarmed human being shot down for no reason.
While Damond should still be alive, it is also funny how protesting the death of an unarmed White woman is seen as O.K.
However, when many Black Lives Matter activists protest the killing of unarmed African-American men, many of those activists are seen as race baiters.
Furthermore, when an unarmed African-American man is killed by a White police officer, it seems that the media and police departments try to uncover everything that he did wrong in his life to justify the killing.
Often, the deceased African-American man is painted as a thug as some media outlets begin disseminating the most menacing pictures of the deceased that they can find.
When a White person is accused of crime, often the media shows a respectable picture of the suspect, regardless of how heinous the crime was.
Therefore, it is no surprise that many, including prosecutors, could not fathom a man of color viewing an unarmed White woman as a threat.
Prosecuting attorneys attacked Noor for saying that he feared for his life and criticized him for shooting Damond without seeing her hands.
Prosecutors also questioned whether or not the loud bang on the squad car was real because neither Noor nor his partner initially mentioned it at the scene during the investigation.
Contrast the murder of Damond to the “death” of Philando Castile and a clear portrait is painted.
An African-American can be seen as a legitimate threat to an officer.
However, a blonde White woman cannot be seen as a legitimate threat to an officer of color in the same area.
Noor is of Somalian descent.
The former police officer is also Muslim.
After Castile’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis officer, the officer charged with his killing, Jeronino Yanez, was acquitted in Castile’s death.
Furthermore, Yanez received $48,500 to leave his job at the suburban police department in Falcon Heights, Minn.
The town of Falcon Heights, Minn. is outside of St. Paul, Minn.
Although every case, every jurisdiction and every scenario is different, how can one justify the killing of unarmed African-American men because the cops felt threatened and then convict an African-American cop of murder who said that he felt threatened by an unarmed White woman?
How can anyone justify a justice system in which White people and African-Americans with the same criminal record, accused of the same crime and residing in the same jurisdictions get different punishment?
If I lived under a system that benefitted me as much as the American judicial system benefits White Americans I would get mad too when someone discussed racial issues.
If I lived under a government that benefitted me more than people of color, I would be mad too when people of color talked about police brutality, voter suppression, racism and oppression.
I would be mad because if America ever truly lived up to its creed of “justice for all,” than the privilege that I had enjoyed my entire life would disappear.
If my privilege disappeared, I might not be able to fight, stab or curse out a cop without getting killed because that’s what happens to people of color when we do those things.
If my privilege disappeared I might not get better interest rates on home loans because allegedly lenders take race into account when giving home loans.
If my privilege disappeared, maybe my family would have to go through what the families of Castile, Alton Sterling, Stephon Clark and Terence Crutcher went through.
Those families had to bury their family members without real justice being served.
The stereotypes of African-American men and the stereotypes of White women is why there are different results.
Actually, the stereotypes of African-American men are why the murder of Damond is so unique.
Society is O.K. with viewing African-American men as a threat, but people like the prosecutors in Noor’s murder trial get offended when they hear a man of color say that a White woman seemed threatening.
I have personally seen too many television shows on Investigation Discovery to believe that all White women are harmless.
Nonetheless, color has a lot to do with who is viewed as threat by some police officers based on the statistics.
According to Vox.com, “Racial minorities made up about 34.7 percent of the general population in the U.S. and 46.6 percent of armed and unarmed victims, but they made up 62.7 percent of unarmed people killed by police.”
I guess the justice system was so mad that the shoe was on the other foot, they had to give the police officer of color the boot from the force and society as a whole.
