Something must be broken deep in our hearts when it comes to police violence
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In the last few weeks we’ve had news a sad, tragic series of murders by police. There was veteran EJ Bradford, who was wrongfully mistaken as a “suspect” and shot three times in the back by officers in an Alabama mall. Emantic Bradford Jr, the 2Something must be broken deep in our hearts when it comes to police violence
In the last few weeks we’ve had news a sad, tragic series of murders by police. There was veteran EJ Bradford, who was wrongfully mistaken as a “suspect” and shot three times in the back by officers in an Alabama mall. Emantic Bradford Jr, the 21-year-old African American man who was killed by a police officer on Thanksgiving at a mall in Alabama, was shot three times from behind, according to an independent autopsy released by a civil rights attorney on Monday. His father told the Guardian the report showed his son was murdered. According to the report, Dr Roger A Mitchell observed gunshot wounds to the right side of Bradford Jr’s body, in his head, neck and lower back. The report states: “The cause of death is gunshot wound of the head. Manner of death is homicide.” […] Initially, Hoover police identified Bradford as the suspect. They later said he was not the suspect, but had “brandished” a gun. Police backed off that claim too. A week after the shooting, a suspect was arrested in Georgia. And then there was “hero” security guard Jemel Roberson, who had actually already subdued the actual suspect when police arrived—and killed the security guard. A black security guard at a bar in the Chicago suburbs was killed by the police as he apparently tried to detain a man he believed to be involved in a shooting, the authorities said Monday. [...] Witnesses told the police that a fight had broken out and someone had started shooting. After the authorities responded, a police officer shot the guard, Jemel Roberson, 26, who had a gun, Ms. Ansari said. Mr. Roberson died at the hospital. Witnesses said that people in the crowd had yelled to arriving police officers that Mr. Roberson, who was wearing gear that read “Security,” was a guard. Ms. Ansari confirmed that Mr. Roberson worked for the bar. These cases are about as clear-cut as possible. These men were absolutely, 100 percent innocent of any wrongdoing. They were safe and the situation was well in hand, until police arrived and murdered them. People should be up in arms. People should be outraged. People should be demanding a change, and they should be demanding that action be taken. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Instead, these are being treated a “isolated incidents,” as unhappy accidents, but they aren’t. They’re part of a much larger pattern, and if there wasn’t something deeply wrong within the heart of America, we would be moving heaven and earth to dig ourselves out from under the tapestry of trauma. Read more