Friday, September 23, 2016

A man was killed by police... again. And people are still "just asking questions"... again.

To all of the people who continue to ask questions about one detail or another detail, who think that something could have happened before the start of the video, or who think that we should all wait so that the police can uncover all the evidence, I really have to ask one small thing:

If the humanity alone doesn't move you to ask what the heck is going on and demand action and accountability from those who killed him, then why are you not asking the questions based on the fundamentals of what makes America what it is: what about this man's day in court in front of a jury of his peers? Why aren't you angry that this guy was - for all intents and purposes - determined to be guilty and was executed by members representing an armed branch of the government? Where is the clamoring for his day in court, to be proven guilty by a jury of his peers?

Yes, there might be something in some alternate version of the video that could have shown something if it started sooner or was taken at a different angle or distance away. But that is beside the point that such evidence should be used by the police to prove the suspect's guilt in a court of law in front of a jury of the man's peers, and not used as an excuse after following what amounts to a summary execution.

And - furthermore - if you are someone who is continuing to ask questions as "isolated incident" after "isolated incident" continues ever onward, how many more "isolated incidents" are needed before you even see a pattern (let alone become angered by the presence of that pattern)?

Or to put it another way, how many more people must die before you choose to change your mind and choose to place fundamental American values of "innocent until proven guilty" and "tried before a jury of your peers" ahead of what amounts to a couch-potato desire to play Monday morning quarterback?

Yet another man died at the hands of the state. The state that is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And that should be troubling enough, regardless of what the corpse lying on the ground did in the last seconds of his life, simply on the grounds of basic, fundamental American values.