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Black (and Other) Lives Matter
Jun. 18th, 2017 06:26 pmI think that the killing of Philando Castile was an appalling incident of trigger-happiness and related misconduct: for example, the police proceeded to handcuff the dying man's girlfriend, who hadn't shot anyone, rather than Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who had. Upon reading of the jury's verdict of acquittal, I felt a temptation to get a gun, and assassinate Mr. Yanez myself.
I won't do it, but I won't be astonished if someone else does. Also, sad to say, I won't be astonished if someone with a hot temper and a list of grievances against the world murders some random policeman, or random white man, and proclaims that he was avenging Phiando Castile.
Then, I won't be astonished if the law-and-order types use the incident to rail against Black Lives Matter, and try to discredit legitimate complaints about police misconduct.
Let's hope we don't go down that road.
I won't do it, but I won't be astonished if someone else does. Also, sad to say, I won't be astonished if someone with a hot temper and a list of grievances against the world murders some random policeman, or random white man, and proclaims that he was avenging Phiando Castile.
Then, I won't be astonished if the law-and-order types use the incident to rail against Black Lives Matter, and try to discredit legitimate complaints about police misconduct.
Let's hope we don't go down that road.
