maybe she would be alive today. However, the opposing views point out the fact that when law enforcement engages the public, in many cases, it is not going to be a consistently pleasant experience for the citizens being pulled over. Asking why questions, and even being disrespectful to a police officer, does not warrant imprisonments, the use of aggressive or lethal force which ultimately ended in Bland’s death. Nevertheless, the controversy regarding police protocol, traffic stops, adherence, and office etiquette continues to divide the nation.
The trend of killing unarmed African Americans continues into the 2020 New Year. Maryland police officer, Corporal Michael Owen shot and killed suspect William Green. Mr. Green was unarmed, in a seatbelt, and handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser when he was killed. Interestingly, officer Owen was not wearing a body camera during the altercation. This incident is America’s most recent example of negligent and inappropriate use of lethal force. The death of William Green was completely unnecessary and absolutely avoidable. Conduct a brief Internet search and you will learn the latest information and results of the case.
The Data Shows a Bleak Outlook
The following are the findings from Mappingpoliceviolence.org, which utilizes U.S. Census Bureau data from 2014 (6):
• Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, nearly two every week.
• Nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 was identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting.
• 37% of unarmed people killed by police, in 2015, were black despite black people being only 13% of the U.S. population.
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• Unarmed black people were killed at five times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015.
• Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was killed by police resulted in the officer(s) being charged with a crime, and only two of these deaths (Matthew Ajibade and Eric Harris) resulted in convictions of the officers involved.
Sadly, there very few improvements in the numbers a year later. Mappingpoliceviolence.org reported the following data for 2015.
• African Americans have the highest likelihood of being killed by American police departments than other racial groups.
• Police departments disproportionately killed black people, who were 41% of victims despite being only 20% of the population living in these cities.
• 41 of the 60 police departments disproportionately killed black people relative to the population of black people in their jurisdiction.
• 14 police departments killed black people exclusively in 2015, 100% of the people they killed were black.
Interestingly, there is no recorded incident an African American police officer accused or convicted of shooting and killing an unarmed Caucasian American in the history of the United States of America at the time of writing this book. According to datausa.org (5), there are approximately 737,000 polices officers in the United States, of which nearly 80% of them are Caucasian. Datausa.com reports that the national police force comprised approximately 13% of African Americans; yet, they are without a history of a single record of major racial profiling and racially motivated, unarmed killings of white Americans.
In June 2018, prominent African-American actor and author, Terry Crews, made some paramount statements regarding the issue of wrongful imprisonment and treatment of African Americans. During Crew’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2016 relating to the sexual assault of his agency’s film producer, he made several comments regarding the plight of African American males overall. “As a black man in America,” he said, “you only have a few shots at success. You only have a few chances to make yourself a viable member of a community. I’m from Flint, Michigan. I have seen many, many young black men who were provoked into violence, and they went to prison. Or, they were killed. They’re not here (9).” What a dismal predicament for Americans to face just because they were born a particular race; a choice that they did not have a say in.
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Balch Springs, Texas
In the Spring of 2017 a Caucasian police officer shot and killed a 15-year-old African American teen, named Jordan Edwards, in Balch Springs, Texas. What is fascinating is that prior to this incident, Officer Roy Oliver had been disciplined in the past, which included a 16-day suspension for what sources at Nbcnews.com describe as, “anger-related problems (2).” In January 2017, Oliver had also performed poorly on an evaluation on questions about the code of criminal procedure, problem solving, and critical thinking. Oliver was, nevertheless, dispatched, along with Officer Tyler Gross, to the scene of a teenage house party, to investigate a report of alleged underage drinking.
According to witnesses at the party, gunfire rang out from somewhere in the vicinity of the house. When that happened, Jordan and his brother along with two friends decided to leave the area by driving away from the home. Officer Oliver claims to have ordered the driver to stop the vehicle upon arriving on the scene. But when Edward’s sixteen-year-old brother continued to drive away with Jordan in the front passenger seat, Oliver opened fire on the vehicle. Oliver shot through the front passenger side window with his police-issued Carbine MC5 rifle, striking Jordan in the back of the head and killing him instantly.
The careless and irresponsible actions of a low competent police officer with a history of anger issues led to the death of yet another innocent black, unarmed young male. No drugs, alcohol, or weapons were found at the party or in the teen’s vehicle. Though officer Oliver was consequently fired from his position at the Balch Springs Police Force, no amount of civil compensation or punishment to the former police officer will return Jordan back to his family.
Jordan Edwards was a happy, healthy, normal teenage American kid, who played football in high school, and who was loved by his family, teammates, and friends. He has been permanently deprived of the opportunity to grow up, graduate from high school, attend college, marry, and have children of his own because of his race. His death could have been prevented through a series of administrative quality control checks aimed at removing high-risk officers with a history of anger issues.
Former Officer Oliver was later convicted of murder and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Sadly, he will likely be released early contingent upon “good behavior,” which is common legal practice in the United States. Even if Mr. Oliver served the full sentence of 15 years, he will be released before his fifty-fifth birthday. He will have ample time to restart is life and to live the American dream. Nevertheless, the Edwards family will never again have the opportunity to hug ←15 | 16→their beloved son Jonathan, attend his college graduation, and to watch him get married and to raise children.
Shot in the Back
Another not long past killing of an unarmed black male hails from Sacramento, California. The police were looking for a burglary suspect during a cool spring evening on March 18, 2018. Mr. Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old father of two, had no idea that he would not have the opportunity to take his one-year-old and three-year-old boys (at the time), to the beach, or Disney Land, or the county fair the upcoming summer. As two local police officers stormed Mr. Clark’s vicinity looking for a suspect, they fired 20 rounds at Clark in his grandmother’s backyard, believing that Clark had pointed a gun at them. Even more shockingly, Stephon Clark was gunned down
