• Tragedy in Oakland

i refuse to watch the videos.

ive yet to see oscar grant die before my eyes. i dont think i’ll ever see that.

the first reaction when i heard and read the story was fury.

here we go again.

amadu dialo, sean bell, aaron roberts, walter collins, mathew dumas, shawn maxwell, julian alexander, jose ramierez jimenez, deon studimyer… just off the top of the head.

the anger and energy that boils up out of us find its way into chaos and destruction. the violence of the police brings out hatred and fear in the public.

now probably the most tragic part of this story is only beginning to reveal itself.

the officer in question said it was an accident.. to the outrage of the public who witnessed an unarmed man on his face with another officer kneeling on him, getting shot thru his back..

yet from the new angles of video footage that have been released, it seems OBVIOUS that it truly was an accident of some sort. like he didn’t mean to actually pull the trigger. the reaction of the officer himself was of shock and horror.

how could he have drawn his gun — loaded and cocked — and pulled the trigger BY ACCIDENT?

because he was pumped full of a deadly mixture of fear and adrenaline. of the dangerous combination of ego and a superiority complex.. juxtaposed with insecurity.

this officer is a product of our law enforcement SYSTEM.

our country’s law enforcement policy and training. they train these men and women to shoot to kill at any “perceived” threat. then they teach you.. no, they drill into your head that there is nothing BUT threat to your life..

especially from a black man.

there is a deep-seated guilt that runs through the veins of some white men. couple that with an environment ripe with a mutual distrust that has been created over the last 50-60 years and rather than feel guilty, many will take on indignation instead. its easier to deal with the emotion in that way then to face the true depth of our bloody history.

the civil rights movement marks the perceived evolution of our 1950′s friendly neighborhood policeman and morphed him into a twisted, corrupt, egotistical, racist and violent caricature of this so-called public servant. someone to fear. someone to never trust.

the cop in question has to be punished. but what about his superiors, what about the policies and the SYSTEM that trained him to be what he became?

to serve and protect is NOT what police are in the 21st century.

the entire system needs a complete purging and overhaul.

with the technology today of non-lethal weaponry, there is ZERO excuse for a law enforcement official to be brandishing loaded nine millimeters FIRST, especially in a fairly controlled situation where there are other officers on the scene.

its the system that is to blame here, more so than the man who jumped the gun (literally) and took the life of an innocent young man, destroyed a family and destroyed his OWN family and life in the process.

true tragedy.