‘Bad Dudes’ Have Rights: Challenging Problematic Police Narratives

Of course everyone has rights. But how can police discuss shooting incidents? Must the narrative follow the Left's?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...roblematic-police_us_57e272c5e4b05d3737be519b

‘Bad Dudes’ Have Rights: Challenging Problematic Police Narratives
We must resist attempts to further divide Blacks into good and bad; We are human.
09/21/2016 07:46 am ET | Updated 5 hours ago
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Derecka Purnell
writer. griot. organizer. dancer. law student. genie. St. Louis raised. Cambridge based.

JIM WATSON VIA GETTY IMAGES
“Michael Brown... was no angel.”- New York Times

“The April 19 death of Freddie Gray, the son of an illiterate heroin addict, made him a symbol of the black community’s distrust of police.”- CNN

“That looks like a bad dude too. He might be on something.”- Tulsa Police Officer on Terence Crutcher

There is an ancient Black girl proverb that says, “And?” My spirit and tongue often invoke this wise conjunction whenever police officers try to justify a murder with questionable information about the victim.

Before Terence Crutcher’s flesh came to live and dwell among us as a hashtag, a police officer in a helicopter said that he looked like a “bad dude” who was probably “on something.” Deeply problematic, likely racist, and perhaps miscalculated, the officer started a familiar narrative that is often used to justify two types of violence. First, it justifies police escalation while the person is still alive. Second, it starts to rationalize police action once the victim is killed.

Time and time again, families are expected to come to the defense of their loved ones. Family reunion and graduation photos start circulating. Michael Brown just beat the odds by graduating high school and was on his way to college (Crutcher had recently enrolled, too.). Eric Garner and Alton Sterling were good fathers. Tamir Rice was a cheerful and playful twelve year old.

“I just want them to know who Michael Brown was. That’s my purpose. My son was not a bad person, he was not a thug, he didn’t have a rap sheet, he didn’t tote a pistol, he was not like that at all.” - Lezley McSpadden, Michael Brown Jr.’s mother

“I truly feel that my father was a good man and he will always be a good man.” - Cameron Sterling, Alton Sterling’s son

“You all want to know who that big ‘bad dude’ was... That big ‘bad dude’ was my twin brother. That big ‘bad dude’ was a father. That big ‘bad dude’ was a son. That big ‘bad dude’ was enrolled at Tulsa Community College — just wanting to make us proud. That big ‘bad dude’ loved God. That big ‘bad dude’ was at church singing, with all his flaws, every week.”- Tiffany Crutcher, Terence Crutcher’s twin sister.

Police departments, prosecutors, and mainstream media fall deeper into character assassination after the victim’s death, releasing untimely or irrelevant information to further rationalize the killer’s actions. The public quickly learned of Michael Brown’s encounter with a store clerk before his murder, and of the autopsy report revealing marijuana in his system. A prosecutor suggested that Tamir’s family had “economic motives” in the outcome of the grand jury process. News outlets chose to circulate Sam DuBose’s mugshot, the victim, and not Officer Ray Tensing’s mugshot, the one charged with his murder. Now, the nation has learned that officers found PCP in Terence Crutcher’s truck after his death. And? Even if true, his hands were still visible, up, and non-threatening. An officer pulled the trigger anyway.

We must resist attempts to divide Blacks into good and bad; We are human.
These strong narratives that so many are forced to combat are misleading and distracting, intentionally.

Why?

Because people with drugs found in their cars have rights. People who say “(*)(*)(*)(*) the police” have rights. Thugs, people with mugshots, and ex-felons have rights. Armed people have rights (not just armed white people, even though police kill Black people for having weapons in open-carry states). Our cousins who have pictures of guns on Instagram have rights. People who break the law have rights, too. Dylann Roof, who is alive, in jail, and even treated to Burger King while in police custody after massacring a church full of Black folk.

In fact, have you ever wondered why the legal system is called the “criminal justice system” and not the “victim justice system?” It is supposed to ensure that people who may break the law are treated fairly through a system of due process. A police officer is not supposed to be judge, jury, and executioner— which is why so many have called police killings “lynchings.” America supposedly has a system where people who are suspected lawbreakers must be found guilty.

But what exactly did Terence Crutching do that was illegal? What was his crime? And if there was a crime, was death the logical and probable consequence? Did police officers have the right to choke the life out of Eric Garner’s body over a petty crime? Does shoplifting at Wal-Mart justify a police officer shooting into a car with adults and children because they drove away? Was two seconds enough time to decide that Tamir should die on a playground?

He was someone’s father. She was a good woman. Communities feel compelled to humanize victims because hashtags are not ideal reincarnations. But simply using these traits to defend against police brutality shifts the inquiry to whether the victim is responsible for her own death rather than the violent or illegal actions of the officer. We must resist attempts to further divide Blacks into good and bad; we are human. Distancing ourselves from those who we think that the police are more likely to target will not save us— and it will only make them more vulnerable.

 

Man shot by Tulsa police officer was high on PCP...

Autopsy: Man Killed by Officer Was on PCP
October 12, 2016 - Terence Crutcher, who was fatally shot by a Tulsa police officer after his car broke down on a city street last month, was high on the hallucinogenic drug PCP in when he died.

 

... has a fool for an attorney...

Dylann Roof to represent himself in court in church shooting trial
Tuesday 29th November, 2016 - Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist accused of murdering nine black parishioners at a historic Charleston, South Carolina church last year, began acting as his own lawyer at his federal death penalty proceedings on Monday.

 

As long as it's not a ploy for him to snake his way out of the death penalty. Let him hang himself in court and find himself dealing with the final penalty afterwards.

 

Granny says there's evil in his eyes...

Dylann Roof made lists of South Carolina churches before attack: testimony
Mon Dec 12, 2016 | Investigators searching the car of South Carolina church shooting suspect Dylann Roof last year found handwritten lists of mostly black parishes around the state, including the one attacked, jurors at his death penalty trial learned on Monday.

 

Death penalty phase of trial up next...

Jurors to Decide on Death Penalty for Gunman
December 16, 2016 - The federal jury of 10 women and two men who found Dylann Roof guilty of federal hate crimes Thursday in the killings of nine African-Americans at a historic Charleston church now must wait more than two weeks for the trial’s next phase.

See also:

South Carolina church gunman's two death penalty trials a rarity
Fri Dec 16, 2016 | White supremacist Dylann Roof's conviction on federal hate crimes in the Charleston church massacre sets him up to be the first person to face back-to-back federal and state death sentences since the United States reinstated the death penalty at the national level in 1988.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - he got a right to blow his own defense...

Charleston gunman will not use mental health to avoid death penalty
December 17, 2016 - Convicted murderer Dylann Roof will not ask jurors to take his mental health into consideration next month during the death penalty phase of his trial for killing nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

"bad dudes" Have one right, and that is to obey the law. If not, they need to realize they will be arrested. Or--------if the resist arrest, or even worse threaten or shoot at the police they need to understand they may end up assuming room temperature. At that point all I can say is that the gene pool was improved.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - he's nuttier n' a fruitcake...

Judge orders psychiatric exam for South Carolina church shooter
December 29, 2016 - A federal judge on Thursday ordered a psychiatric examination for Dylann Roof, days before he is to represent himself as prosecutors make the case that he should be executed for the June 2015 massacre at a Charleston, South Carolina, church.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - he's a mean an' nasty ruthless killer...

Judge closes hearing on South Carolina church gunman's competency
Mon Jan 2, 2017 | A judge on Monday barred the public and press from a hearing to determine if Dylann Roof is mentally fit to serve as his own lawyer in the penalty phase of his trial, when the jury will decide whether to give him the death penalty for the 2015 massacre at a South Carolina church. Roof, 22, an avowed white supremacist, shot dead nine people at the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - he ain't crazy - he's demonic...

South Carolina church gunman said 'I'm not crazy' as he fired: witness
Jan 04 2017 - The widow of the pastor who was among the nine people killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof told a federal jury on Wednesday she heard the gunman say he was not crazy during the rampage at a historic black church in South Carolina.

 

Judge says deliberation on death penalty for Dylann Roof begins Tuesday...

South Carolina jury to deliberate church shooter's fate next week
Fri Jan 6, 2017 | Jurors could begin deliberating on Tuesday whether white supremacist Dylann Roof should be sentenced to death or life in prison for killing nine black people at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, a federal judge said on Friday.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - he knows he's guilty an' deserves to die...

South Carolina church shooter refuses to defend himself
Mon Jan 9, 2017 | White supremacist Dylann Roof on Monday stood by his pledge not to testify or call any witnesses who might persuade jurors not to sentence him to death for killing nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015.

 

Granny says, "Dat's right - dat is one goofy-assed white boy...

Relatives of Slain Charleston Churchgoers Confront Gunman for Last Time
January 11, 2017 — One by one, family members of nine slain black parishioners confronted Dylann Roof for the last time Wednesday, shouting at him, offering forgiveness and even offering to visit him in prison as he awaits execution for the slaughter.