Recently this video was posted on YouTube. It is similar to The Black Lives Matter in that its focus seems to be surrounding the current narrative of blacks being unfairly killed by police.
The belief of police brutality as it pertains to the black community has grown so strong that many are accepting this claim as fact without any doubts or curiosity in obtaining actual stats. In other words, the general American audience can be told just about anything and they will believe it so long as it "fits" their bias.
The following video, put together by Alicia Keys and her friends in the entertainment industry, seems to capitalize on this general ignorance but, also exposes their own ignorance concerning crime in the United States.
Without a doubt, the racial divide in this country is growing and while some people are trying to repair this, others seem to be actively working to make the situation worse. The only way true repair and healing can come about is with truthful messages, where both sides of an issue are being discussed and honest conversations about black-crime can be approached without being labeled a racist.
Below I list all of the shootings in the order they appear in the video. I will also try and provide some context to what actually happened vs. what the video tries to claim. When someone tries to simplify these cases, the overall message turns into a lie that is attempting to manipulate people through their emotions and weaknesses - especially their ignorance.
Contrary to what is seen in the video, you will learn that many of these cases are not at all what was claimed. A deeper, closer look is required for us to move past the sensationalized, simplified assertions in order for all of us to be honest with ourselves and with others. We do ourselves no favors by cherry-picking information or being dishonest with others because we might feel uncomfortable or we don't want to hurt someone's feelings. Feelings are completely subjective. It is our duty to look past feelings and make all attempts to look at situations in a factual, practical, and objective manner.
1) Failing to signal a lane change - Sandra Bland
Sandra was pulled over and we can see the video here. The video clearly shows Sandra being defiant from the get-go. She has no interest in listening to anything the police officer has told her or instructed her. She verbally abuses him, calling him names and declares over and over she can't wait "to take this to court."
This type of behavior is just not considered acceptable and when people act like this, they put themselves in compromising positions. Of course, a police officer is going to be on edge and do whatever he can to try and control the situation. Sandra was arrested and taken to jail. She later committed suicide by hanging herself in her cell. However, there seem to be people who are just not convinced and have decided to begin their own conspiracies about the entire situation.
Videos have been released showing Sandra was not dead before taken to the police station and an inmate in an adjacent cell confirmed, along with the autopsy, that there was no signs or sounds of a struggle.
2) Riding in your girlfriend's car with a child in the back - Philando Castile
Ummm... No. Philando was not riding around in his girlfriend's car. He was driving the car. Where the confusion lies comes directly from the video captured after Philando was shot. The camera on Lavish Reynolds' phone is a mirror image, so the actual image is flipped. When you see her move the camera toward the officer, you can clearly see the steering wheel in front of Castile.
Now considering the behavior of Lavish during this whole filming, it's rather clear that she was high and she confesses that the two of them had weed. Looking back on other videos this woman has posted in the past, it's not uncommon for her to be in a car, traveling around and getting high. Yes, she does so with her small child in the car.
As of writing this, we honestly do not know for sure if the officer who shot Philando was justified. At this point, we will have to wait for all the facts but, what we do know doesn't look so good for Philando. This is a man who MAY have been connected to a gang and this was discovered via his social media (NO official confirmation). He has been pulled over numerous times (at least 50), and most of these infractions concern driving on a suspended license and driving without insurance. Now the media would like to tell all of us to downplay this and pretend that these are not serious crimes but I beg to differ. Driving around without insurance IS a serious crime. If you hurt someone, what happens to that person? It is selfish and irresponsible. It's not minor. Also if your license is suspended, you're not supposed to drive so why is it that Castile refused to comply with this restriction over and over and over again? It's simple; he didn't care about authority, just like he didn't listen to the officer who told him not to reach for anything.
Look, I understand the police probably did target him a bit because they likely knew his vehicle and knew he wasn't supposed to be driving. That's what police do - they pull over people who are not obeying the law. It doesn't take a genius to figure out, "Hey the cops know me, they know I'm not supposed to be driving. I shouldn't be driving." The man had racked up $6000 in fees because he simply refused to get his life under control. He had no money to pay off his fines but had money to smoke weed?
Another problem with the initial reports is the claim these two were pulled over for a taillight that was out but, police stated on their scanner that he was pulled over because the car and Castile matched the description of the suspects in a recent robbery in that same area. Interestingly enough, there may be good reason to believe these two were involved in the robbery. This particular robbery resulted in cash and cartons of cigarettes being stolen. GotNews has a source telling them the police have linked the cigarettes Lavish Reynolds had to the crime scene they were stolen from. There is a tax stamp found on all cartons and those are all in the store's inventory. This is a very early report but if the past is any indication of the future, GotNews likely has the correct scoop.
It does seem Philando was legally licenced to carry a firearm, which Lavish informed police Philando was only reaching for his gun permit when the officer shot him. The problem with this is that when someone has a license to carry, they are made aware of how important it is to follow directions when being pulled over by police. If the police officer did tell him not to reach for anything, it seems to be a very foolish mistake for Philando to have done anything other than kept his hands on the steering wheel. Perhaps he was just high and wasn't thinking. The other major problem here is that Lavish admitted they had weed so even with this license to carry, he had committed a felony. You cannot carry a firearm with a controlled substance (not sure if this applies to all amounts), and you cannot carry that firearm if you are under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance.
There are all sorts of various scenarios one could imagine happening here but all we have on video is the aftermath. It's clear we just don't have all the facts and what we know now is very different from initial reports so we can expect that after the investigation, more information will help reveal the unknown elements. We must wait for the facts and the full picture to emerge.
One thing is for certain, he wasn't just, "riding in his girlfriend's car" as the video claimed.
3) Running to the bathroom in your own apartment - Ramarley Graham
In this case, police claimed they believed they saw Ramarley carrying a gun as he exited a bodega in New York. They ended up following him to his apartment and he ran away from them into his building and apartment. Police broke his door down; Ramarley was flushing a small bag of marijuana down the toilet. Police claimed they saw Graham reach for his waistband, thinking it was a gun, they shot him.
The police officer was immediately moved to modified duty and was charged. Later on, a grand jury would not indict. His family did file a civil case and was awarded money.
In this case, there is no video of what occurred. It is reported that some film does exist of Graham walking into his building and not running like cops initially tried to state. From what little I can find, it seems odd this officer was not required to go to court. The civil lawsuit does seem justified.
4) Selling cigarettes outside of a corner store - Eric Garner (love the old, outdated picture that doesn't show the enormity of this man at his time of death).
Eric is the man everyone referred to as a gentle giant. The police didn't kill him. He had asthma and several other medical issues that had to do with his size. He did not take care of himself. He was also illegally selling cigarettes. When police approached him, he went into a defensive state, both verbally and physically. He simply would not allow the police to arrest him. This forced them to use physical means to take him down in order to handcuff him. A grand jury did not indict the officer who was blamed for Garner's death.
5) Riding a commuter train - Oscar Grant III
It does appear that Oscar was fighting authorities but he was on the ground, face down. The police officer was fired. In 2010, the officer who shot him was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Grant's daughter and mother received a settlement totaling $2.8 million.
6) Walking home with a friend - Gregg Gunn
Police were out patrolling a neighborhood that recently had a number of break-ins. Gunn was walking (presumably home), carrying a pole or stick (turned out to be a paint roller extension handle), when police approached him. Not much beyond this is known. Relatives of Gunn said it is very likely that Gunn would have run from police as he was, "scared to death" of them.
The police officer was arrested and charged with murder. I've been unsuccessful finding further updates but this occurred earlier this year. Things do not look good for this officer.
7) Making eye contact - Freddie Gray
Gray fled police unprovoked. He looked at them and bolted. He happened to have a switchblade on him at the time. Half the police officers that arrested him were black themselves. He was also high on drugs. At the time of his arrest, Gray had quite the criminal history and several cases were still open. Freddie was then taken into custody and died about a week later from injuries. There was speculation as to something happening to Gray as he was arrested and drove in a van. Some people claim he injured himself, others have said police took him for a "rough ride."
The officers involved were charged with various crimes like manslaughter and false arrest. So far all the officers have been acquitted. One of them had a mistrial. Oh, and the ones who were acquitted were done so by Circuit Judge Barry Williams, who also happens to be black - a very fair and honest judge, BTW.
8) Selling CD's outside of a supermarket - (dramatic reading is Oscar worthy) - Alton Sterling
This case is about as ugly as you can get. I'm quite positive when the above video was filmed, no one knew any of the facts that we know now.
Alton was a life-long criminal, just released from jail about 3 weeks from this incident. He had two felonies and was facing a third - had he been arrested on this particular day of his death. He had even been convicted of pedophilia.
Police responded to a call where the person complained about a man selling CD's in front of a store and threatening them with a gun. When police arrived they immediately identified Sterling who refused to comply with police requests. He was shot twice with a taser gun and still would not listen to the police. He was then tackled yet, police still could not fully gain control over him. At some point it appears he is reaching into his pocket, shots are fired but we still are not sure who's gun fired first. In the film, we can see a gun pointed at Alton's chest but no spark from the sound of the first gunshot. So did Alton fire from his pocket first? After police fired bullets into Sterling's chest, they can be seen grabbing a gun out of Alton's pocket - the pocket he was reaching into.
Alton has a long history of crime:
AS Court Documents by Heavy on Scribd
9) Wearing a hoodie - Trayvon Martin
I followed this case extensively and wrote many, many blog posts, the most popular being here and here.
George Zimmerman was not a police officer so this right here should disqualify it from the narrative the police are attacking blacks for no reason. Furthermore, Trayvon is the one who approached Zimmerman and began to beat him repeatedly. Doing so put his own life in danger and Zimmerman had every right to protect himself. Race simply is not an issue here. People have the right to protect themselves - even if they are not the most likable of people.
10) Walking away from police - Mario Woods
This case is grossly misrepresented. Mario was an active gang member who had just stabbed someone. He still had the knife in his hand when police demanded he drop the knife but Woods refused to listen and he was actually walking toward an officer, not away from anyone. Mario was even shot with pepper spray and a beanbag gun prior. Police did everything they could to de-escalate the situation but again, Mario refused. I can't find the toxicology reports but it seems clear this young man was on something.
I have no idea how this story became so twisted.
A civilian recorded the event on her phone and her own voice is heard screaming at Woods to drop it (the knife). Of course, after Woods was shot, she can be heard in the background screaming about how police should not have killed him.
Had this guy just dropped and got down, he'd be alive today.
11) Walking toward police - Laquan McDonald
This situation is similar to that of Mario Woods (above). There is video of this incident but lacking audio. Laquan has a very sorted past. He was born to a teen mother who struggled with drug issue. His toxicology report determined he was on PCP at the time he was shot.
Before police killed him, they had made repeated attempts to stop him. He was carrying a knife and had punctured the tire of a police car as well as damaged its windshield. He continued to ignore instructions. Unfortunately, it does appear that not all options were exhausted and the number of bullets used was excessive and too soon. The first responding officer stated he did not see a need to use that type of force. The officer responsible is actually awaiting trial and is being charged with murder. More about this case is sure to follow.
12) Missing a front license plate - Samuel DuBose
There is a video of this incident and when Samuel was pulled over, he refused to comply with the officer. He then decided to take off and because of this, the officer shot him. The officer has been charged and he is awaiting trial so we will have to wait and see how things play out.
While the officer likely used poor judgement in shooting Samuel, it seems unlikely that anything would have happened had Samuel just complied and did as the officer asked.
13) Holding a fake gun in the park in Ohio - Tamir Rice
This case appeals best to the emotions of others since Tamir was so young. Only 12 years old and armed with a toy gun at a local park, police ended up shooting and killing Rice. What is not discussed here is the toy he had was found to have been tampered with. The orange tab found on these toy guns, which is specifically put on them in order to identify their toy-status, was removed. Police had no way of knowing the gun was only a toy and they were responding to a call from a concerned citizen who told police Tamir was waving his gun at people, threatening them.
When watching the video, one has to wonder what this child was thinking and why there were no adults who instructed him about toy weapons and the importance of not removing the orange tab.
14) Driving with a broken brake light - Walter L. Scott
In this case, Scott tried to grab an officer's stun gun. He also ran away from police. Apparently, he owed quite a bit of money in child support. However, none of this excuses the fact that the officer acted poorly. What the video doesn't tell you is that this officer has been charged with murder.
15) Sitting in your car before a bachelor party - Sean Bell
The police involved were charged and found not guilty.
Sean and his friends were at a club which at the time was being investigated for fostering prostitution. One of Sean's friends had gotten into a verbal fight with someone and had been heard saying he wanted to go get his gun. Thinking a shooting was about to occur, police officers followed the men. A black plainclothes policeman identified himself after the men got into their car. He had ordered them out but Sean hit the car acceleration, ran into the police officer and then ran into an unmarked police van. The police said they thought they saw one of the men grab for a weapon, a warning was alerted to the other officers and they opened fire, about 50 shots from 5 officers.
There is nothing innocent about what Sean did.
16) Walking up the stairwell of your apartment building - Akai Gurley
This is a very odd circumstance. It involves two police officers in a dark stairwell. The officer claimed his gun accidentally discharged and the bullet ricocheted off of a wall, hitting Akai in the chest. The shooting was labeled an accident but, the officer was still charged and was sentenced to probation as well as doing hours of community service.
17) Calling for help after an accident - Renisha McBride
Another bizarre incident that resulted in a shooting death. Renisha was not shot by a police office so her story hardly fits the narrative of blacks being targetted by police.
At about 1 AM, someone called 911 reporting that a woman was speeding, struck a car that was parked, and left on foot. The police put this call on low priority. About 40 minutes later and another call was placed to 911 indicating the owner of the car had returned. By the time police got there, she had left yet again. The owner of the parked car had told police that the woman (we now know as being Renisha), was in a state of confusion and was unable to give any information.
Some 3 hours after the Renisha would show up on a man's porch about a mile away from the accident banging on his door. The man would claim he believed she was trying to break into his house and this is why he choose to shoot her.
Renisha's toxicology report would reveal she was severely drunk.
The man who shot and killed her was charged with murder and was sentenced to 15-30 years for 2nd-degree murder. This is hardly a case of someone just getting away with murder.
18) Holding a fake gun in Virginia - India M. Beaty
At 1:30 AM police noticed India getting into a fight and threatening someone with a gun (police did not know the gun was fake). They intervened and told her to comply but she began to use the gun in a threatening manner toward the police who then shot her dead.
19) On the way to Bible study - Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Daniel Simmons Sr., Myra Thompson.
A horrible, tragic story of people inside a church who were gunned down by some fanatic who clearly suffered from mental issues for years. This has nothing to do with police and the young man was arrested, is rotting in jail, and awaiting his trial. It's hard to imagine any circumstance where he will not be found guilty.
20) Holding a fake gun in Walmart - John Crawford III
This is definitely and unfortunate incident but, John can be seen on camera acting erratically and holding a gun while he was nowhere near the toy section. It has been reported he refused to comply with authorities and this is why he was eventually shot.
21) Laughing- Rekia Boyd
This is a case of an off-duty detective who was annoyed over a loud party. He approached a group of four people from the party and told them to be quite. He never identified himself as a detective. The group turned away from him and he fired bullets from his gun, one of them hitting Rekia in the back of the head and killing her. He tried making the claim that he believed one of them was pulling out a gun.
The officer was charged with involuntary manslaughter but was cleared. The judge said there was nothing reckless about it, so the charge simply didn't apply. It was intentional and he should have been charged with 1st-degree murder.
22) Holding a wallet - Amadou Diallo
It is interesting that this case occurred in 1999. You would think that for such a systemic problem of white officers attacking blacks, those who made this video could have found something more recent. Also, the man was from Guinea.
Diallo was outside of his building when police had identified themselves to him. The police were in the area looking for a serial rapist whose description matched Amadon. Police say he ran up the stairs of his building, ignoring their orders to stop and put his hands up. He reached into his pocket, an officer yelled, "gun!" and all began to fire. Then the officer closest fell backwards, slipping on the stairs which caused the other officers to believe he was shot. This prompted more firing of bullets in Diallo's direction.
23) For attending a birthday party - Jamar Clark
Clark was not just attending a birthday party. He decided to interfere with paramedics who were assisting an assault victim. Yes, the victim was his girlfriend - Clark is the one who assaulted her. This interference and refusal to comply, along with DNA evidence showing he reached for a cop's gun, are all reasons why he was shot.
Here once again, we see an attempt to distort the truth. The man ended up being killed because he interfered and reached for an officer's gun.
Final Thoughts
As the video finishes, Rihanna says, "Not servile enough."
...well, this is very true. Had these men and women complied with the requests of the police officers, it is more than likely they would still be here today. Most of them may have been arrested and in jail but they would indeed be alive.
What is truly noteworthy is that all the cases where it was even considered that a police officer acted too quickly, charges were filed and in some cases, those cops went to jail. Also, families did receive monetary justice.
An excellent video created by Billy Bong, walks you through these cases with the film where it's available. Be sure to subscribe to his channel.
A recent Harvard study which has been talked about recently on the news has determined no racial bias where cops fire their guns.
The results? Not what Black Lives Matter would have you believe. The study found no indication of racial bias associated with incidents in which cops fired their guns.
The study concluded that police officers who had not been attacked were more likely to shoot white suspects. This goes completly against the mythology.
Watch Don get his ass handed to him by Sheriff David Clark over BLM.
What to do now?
The lesson we all need to learn (no matter what race), is to simply not act foolish when you are pulled over or approached by a police officer. Listen to what they say and follow their instructions. Also, dare I say at the risk of being insulted - maybe weed isn't such a great drug after all? Staying sober is certainly one way to help avoid being foolish. I just can't help but notice how often people who find themselves in trouble like this are high on marijuana. It's certainly something to consider.
Never remove the orange or brightly colored tag on your play guns. If your gun looks real to you, it's going to look real to a police officer. Never point a gun at a person. Ever. Loaded or not loaded.
Make sure when you go out to your car, you know the location of your license, registration, and insurance card. Make sure you are using your seatbelt. Be sure to have a friend or relative help you check your signal lights periodically. These are all responsibilities of drivers everywhere. These are things you should be doing and if you're not, you need to get into the habit of doing them. Act and drive defensively, not aggressively.
Take pride in learning how to drive. Ask someone to help you if you need to do so. There's NO shame in getting help. Learn to park - park between lines and parallel. Learn your city. Get a map, forget GPS; really study all the streets and learn how to find locations by the address alone. Become really familiar with the area you live in. Make sure you check your eyes to ensure you are seeing well. Know where you're going and what the speed limits are.
Always use your turn signal and when you turn, never turn into an outer lane immediately. You must turn into the lane closest, and then you can move to the far lane if you need to. Turning into the outer lane immediately will attract police officers to pull you over. Below I made a really crappy diagram for you but, as you can see the blue boxes represent a car turning right. That car will want to turn into the right lane. If the car needs to be in the left lane, then you have to wait then hit the left turn signal before getting over. The green boxes represent a car turning left and this is probably the most common error people make and police love to go after drivers who do this. Make sure you turn into the left lane first, not the outer lane.
Even if you're a bit annoyed, it's okay but, try and keep that under control. Just breath and relax. Sign your ticket and remember that you can still go to court if you feel the police officer was in the wrong. There's no need to get snappy with an officer. Just calmly work your way through the requests and more than likely you'll be on your way, back on the road to your destination.
For those that still want to complain and say the police are all bad, remember nothing is likely stopping you from working to be the change you want to see. Have you considered being a police officer yourself? Maybe learning more about their work and how they manage you might just have a change of heart about what you think of the police. Remember that they are people too, with feelings, family, and friends. Yes, there are bad cops but most are caring people who are doing their best to protect us and you. If you want them to see you as a person who cares, then show you care by being honest, don't run away, don't argue, don't fight, and don't pull out a gun.
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