As my wife's home town of Kenosha burns, officials still refuse to do the one thing that will bring an immediate halt to the conflagration: fire and charge the police officer who shot Jacob Blake. It speaks volumes that city officials would rather endure the incredibly expensive damage caused by night after night of riots than allow one white officer to face the music.
Meanwhile, I find a video on social media which, predictably, points out how Jacob Blake had a warrant out for his arrest for domestic violence, had a lengthy and recent rap sheet, and was generally a skunk of a human being. This template has been used so often that it has become cliche; the man who was shot gets demonized, the trigger-nervous cop gets angelified, and the rioters get cast as irrational thugs who simply wish to destroy things.
The video is put together by a man named Brandon Tatum, a former Tuscon, Arizona cop who left the police force in 2017 to join Liftable Media, part of the right-wing media machine that includes The Western Journal and The Conservative Tribune. Since then, he's done public speeches, YouTube videos, and presentations on Turning Point USA and PragerU. So we pretty much know what to expect from this guy. Nevertheless, I will explore what he says based on its merit, and then show you why it's horse-shit.
If you want to see the video yourself, you can find it here.
"Let's get into this," Tatum starts. "Ladies and gentlemen, for the life of me, I don't understand why every single time there is a police-involved situation, that y'all have to go and support the dumbest of the dummies, the lowest of the low, the criminal of the criminals. I don't understand! 99.9% of police-involved shootings could be completely eliminated if people would just do a simple thing called not resist arrest. Follow directions. How hard is that?"
It's not hard, Mr. Tatum. But it does get old. It reminds me of another Facebook post I saw the other day (and I'm sorry, I'd like to re-post it here, but I didn't save it as a .jpg. If I find it again, I'll edit it in right here), where a black man talks about the many, many, many times he's been pulled over, in many different cities and counties, and was never shot, because he always cooperated. Okay, fine, but why were you pulled over so often? It's easy to say "always cooperate" when you aren't the one being constantly harassed. Sooner or later, especially given economic conditions where cutting corners is the only way to survive, people lash out at the ones harassing them about it.
"Now let's talk about Mr. Jacob Blake" he continues. "Because people are literally burning down their city in the name of - Jacob Blake. As if he's an innocent man, just gettin' in his car, he wadn't even doin' notin' to nobody n'dem!* Naw, yeah he was! What do you think he was doin' when he was goin' to his car after they had yelled at him and told him to stop? Mind you, they showed up to the car for a domestic violence situation."
Meaning what, Brandon? Do you really think "domestic violence situation" means "weapons free?"
[*Note: That was Mr. Tatum's "local color" as he made fun of what he thought BLM was saying. That's his condescension, not mine.]
To save time, I'll concede that Jacob Blake is a real shit. Yes, he had a warrant out for his arrest. Yes that warrant was for an earlier domestic violence incident. And there's a whole string of earlier incidents where this guy got in trouble with police over being violent at home. But the guilt or innocence of Blake isn't the point. The point is that a police officer deliberately and maliciously was shooting to kill. AND he got caught on video doing it.
Mr. Tatum, since you are a former cop, I would like to ask you if there is one single good reason why Blake shouldn't have been shot once in the leg the moment he reached for the car door handle? May I ask you why a single shot after he got in wouldn't have sufficed? May I ask you by what measure you presume seven bullets to be necessary? Or do you think eight would have been better because seven left him merely paralyzed and not dead?
Can you explain to me why cops seem to have a default setting of deadly force? Why they assume legs don't exist?
No, people are not burning down their city "in the name of Jacob Blake!" They are burning down their city in the name of the cop who goes unnamed! Everyone knows the name of Jacob Blake. Nobody knows who the shooting cop even is, yet! His name has not been released! And this cop has not yet been 1) fired, 2) arrested, or even 3) charged! Even after three straight nights of riots! And what does that say about a city's leadership? What can the police chief say to the car dealership owner, whose entire lot was destroyed by protesters, when that owner asks, "Why didn't you just arrest the cop instead of putting him on 'administrative leave?!'" How will this same chief make his case to the city's aldermen? To the mayor? What could possibly justify protecting this one badge?
It could have been superficial, even. The chief could have said to the shooter, "Look, me firing you is just for show. We'll have your back, but things are just too hot right now. If you're innocent, we'll simply hire you back and give you back pay."
Nah, that would make too much sense!
Okay, Mr. Tatum, I get the complaint that you, and Candace Owens, and Sheriff David Clarke, and several others keep making. It seems like every time a shooting happens that the person shot turns out to be a total crook. You don't want to defend scumbags. I get it. But the criminality of the person shot is not the point! The point is that cops shouldn't shoot black people to kill!
If you get nothing else, Mr. Tatum, get this: The line drawn in the sand by black people is, "DON'T KILL US!" Whatever the situation, whatever the crime, blacks in America are insisting that cops stop being judge, jury and executioner within seconds of arriving on scene.
That's my message to you, sir. BLM says, "DON'T KILL US!" And it's a very reasonable place to draw the line.
"But the guy had a warrant for domestic...."
Doesn't matter! DON'T KILL US!
"But he robbed a convenient st..."
We don't care! DON'T KILL US!
"He ditched a baggie with white powder..."
Irrelevant. DON'T KILL US!
"He was casing that empty house..."
Or exploring. And stole exactly nothing. DON'T KILL US!
Taze the shit out of them, if you must. Drown them in pepper spray, if that's required. Or, as previously said, one or two bullets to the leg if nothing else works. But the line has been drawn: COPS AREN'T ALLOWED TO KILL BLACKS. I won't even ask you if that standard is fair, because it is!
And you may rightly say, Mr. Tatum, that I have some arrogance speaking for BLM, being a white man speaking to a black man. Granted! But I would ask you, sir, why do I, as a white man, need to educate you, of all people, about this? Why do you not know where the line in the sand has been drawn? I maintain that it is because you've spent too much time on stage with Dinesh D'Sousa to really know what's true anymore. Your conservative bubble has insulated you against anything contrary to your MAGA-hat fellow sycophants, and you need to spend more time with the unwashed masses you spit upon.
What really makes me qualified to speak to you about this isn't the color of my skin, but my connection to the community. I know Kenosha! My wife is from there, and my in-laws still live there. I was married there! I visit frequently, and have come to know the landscape and its people. And the people who live there simply don't act like this! Black or white, Kenoshans are peaceful people! It it outsiders who have descended upon Kenosha from who-knows-where, and many of them belong to white-wing militia groups! They have no business being there!
Car Source, the auto dealership whose lot was burned, didn't do anything
to deserve this. The owner of Dale's Jewlers didn't do anything to
deserve having his store vandalized. The Danish Brotherhood building
didn't need to be burned down. I know this town. I know The Spot
Drive-In, Tenuta's Groceries, Paielli's Bakery - this is my second city! These are my friends!
And you, Tatum, are another outsider who doesn't know jack shit about what's going on, here!
No, I don't justify the looting, the destruction, the ruination of the city. But why should I? Much of the violence there is coming from you right-wingers! People like Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old militia member from Antioch, Illinois who shot two people last night! These assholes are firebugs who don't care about Kenosha because they aren't from here! Rittenhouse and people like him are people who love YOUR videos! Who love YOUR message! And while YOUR disciples stir up the pot with one hand, you blame BLM with the other. Fuck you, too!
You have one chance, sir, to throw water on the fire and tell your fellow right-wingers to STAND DOWN.
And if you don't, may you rot in every hell of every religion known to Man.
Eric
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1 comment:
Well said Eric
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