Do Police Shootings Make You More Cautious About Calling The Police?

According to CNN another heartbreaking story in Texas. A woman was shot and killed in her home by a Forth Worth Police Officer. If someone can’t be safe in their own home, where can they be safe? This is the outrage over the weekend as Atatiana Jefferson was killed while playing video games with her nephew in her home.

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No one is above the law. Except when the law is wrong. Over the past few days I have been quietly digesting my ire over the news of a 28-year-old Black woman shot to death in her own home by a white police officer. It shouldn’t matter that she was a Xavier University graduate. It shouldn’t matter that she was pre-med. It shouldn’t matter, however, disgustingly it does in the eyes of the judicial system. It does because we know the history of how unarmed black souls are painted as the villains when murdered by the police followed by justice that carries less weight than the gavel that issues it. The common consensus from many who refute the facts of police brutality are, “Well they must have done something wrong?” I scoff at that consensus. Consensus from those that have never experienced police brutality because of the color of their skin. Do not have loved ones that can relay their own stories of harassment or those who do not live to do so. How will this precinct spin the facts of a neighbor noticing an open door and calling a non emergency hotline to check on a neighbor and that wellness check conducted and ending in murder by the police? The neighbor, a black woman named #AtatianaJefferson, babysitting her nephew had no idea the voice yelling commands and shining flashlights in her windows were police. The body camera video shows the officer did not identify himself as such and did not give her time to comply as she stood in her bedroom and was shot by an officer through the window. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No one is above the law. Except when the law is wrong. The judicial system’s egregious allowances for the murder and harassment of black and brown people at the hands of those that carry a badge speaks volumes. Most of the time police officers will get away with the murder and the harassment. Is it unlawful? Yes. Is it allowed? Definitely and therefore stating the opposite of illegal. How inane is it that one must ask if the killing of an unarmed person who has done nothing erroneous is illegal. It is even more outrageous that lawfulness is a factor because the murderer carries a badge & the victim is black. #BlackPplAreNotThreeFifthsHuman

A post shared by Tk Wonder (@tk_wonder) on Oct 14, 2019 at 10:58am PDT

A white police officer responded to a call for a welfare check at a home in Fort Worth, Texas, fired a shot into a bedroom window, striking and killing a 28-year-old black woman who a neighbor said was not a threat. So this is what Texas police officers are doing now? Shoot first and then ask questions? This was a welfare check, why was a gun drawn in the first place? I would love to see the training these cops
are going through to allow them to graduate and then go out in the field and respond like this.

The NAACP wrote: "If we are not safe to call the police if we are not safe in our homes, where can we find peace? We demand answers. We demand justice." I totally agree. I can’t imagine what this family is going through, especially when she didn’t see it coming. The neighbor who called the police, of course, is carrying a lot of guilt because had he called none of this would have happened. Even though these shootings happened all the way in Texas, the Capital District has also had issues with police using excessive force.

Do these recent police killings make you cautious about calling law enforcement?