The Shooting of Walter Wallace, Jr

 

It's happened again, this time in Philadelphia. By now, we know the script.

Black male, no angel but undeserving of a death sentence, gets shot by police in some conspicuously trigger-happy manner. The video of the Philadelphia shooting can be seen here, unedited (of course). The city understandably goes into an uproar that this nonsense has happened yet again, and protests take place. Looting and destruction takes place thanks to some fringe opportunists, possibly egged on by a couple of well-placed right-wing agitators. The Left-wing assumes everything good and just about the victim. The Right-wing assumes that the police were justified and rallies to its defense. The media turns its cameras and microphones to the family of the victim. The Right-Wing Media Cult then puts every crime the victim ever did on a loop.

We've seen it so often it's passed beyond cliche and gone over into the gloomy realm of monotony. Yet there are a few particulars which make this case extra-noteworthy.

The family seems to have called for an ambulance. Instead they got police. Three calls were made to authorities, and it still isn't clear whether the police were called directly or not, but at least one request for an ambulance was made.

No ambulance arrived until AFTER Walter Wallace was shot.

Once again, we have a situation where police fired WAY too many shots. The camera footage shows that Wallace did not charge at the officers. And he literally brought a knife to a gun-fight. But the officers not only fired at his torso when firing at his legs would have sufficed, they fired no fewer than 11 rounds into the man. One bystander was even heard shouting, "Did you need to fire that many shots?!"

And Wallace apparently was not mentally stable. He was a newlywed, so he was at least sane or crazy enough to say legal vows, but was either off meds that day, or was mentally off for some other reason. Police decided to treat him with a lead injection.

All this is bad enough, but it isn't my main thought regarding this. My main thought is:

YES, there needs to be police accountability for this.

YES, people need to peaceably protest the incident.

NO, PEOPLE SHOULD NOT RIOT! AT LEAST, NOT NOW!

Soooo close to the election's end, the very LAST thing we need is an excuse by some over-zealous chief of police to shut down polling places out of "concern for public safety." And I know, that's paranoia on a House of Cards level, but we're dealing with Donald Trump, not Kevin Spacey, and Trump's followers are capable of anything!

So please, Philly! I'm begging you! STOP RIOTING! The governor of Pennsylvania happens to be a Democrat, Tom Wolfe, but I wouldn't put it past Republicans to see what's happening in Philly and start getting ideas! Imagine if there were suddenly a deliberate police shooting in Atlanta, and polls were closed there in the days leading up to, and beyond, the election! Then suddenly, Georgia does not flip blue, as many people are expecting it might. What about Miami? Or Houston?

So CALM THE FUCK DOWN! Yes, we need to protest, but no window is so important that it can't wait to be broken until after November 4th. Walter Wallace Sr., the father of the victim, is calling for peace. Let's listen to him.

Don't give them ANY excuse!

Eric

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