Police fears of black skin grant virtual license to kill
It keeps happening.
A black or brown person gets killed by police, and there are no consequences. There is no justice.
Allow me to point to this week’s Exhibit A. Watch the video of Philando Castile being shot and killed by Jeronimo Yanez, a police officer in Minnesota.
After Yanez approached his car, Castile, a black man, informed Yanez that he had a firearm, a gun he was lawfully registered to carry. Yanez told Castile not to reach for the gun, and Castile said he wasn’t. Yanez yelled, “Don’t pull it out!” The gun Castile had remained in his pocket, but Yanez still fired seven — seven — shots. As Castile moaned and as his white T-shirt began turning crimson, Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who along with her 4-year-old
daughter were passengers in the car, livestreamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook.
On June 16, Yanez, who said he had feared for his life, was acquitted of manslaughter and two counts of endangering Reynolds and her daughter.
To recap, a man who politely disclosed that he was licensed to carry a gun and who was complying with orders was killed in front of his family because a police officer became frightened out of his wits. By black skin.
What happened to Castile happens to black and brown people across this great country, including in the Bay Area.
Here in Oakland, the police continue to treat black and brown people differently — worse than they do whites, according to a report by Stanford researchers who detected racial disparities in police officers’ speech. The researchers analyzed hundreds of hours of body-camera footage from traffic stops made by Oakland police officers.
If you’re a white driver in Oakland, the police might as well be Allstate agents because, as the insurance company’s slogan goes, “You’re in good hands.” But if you’re black or brown, you better keep your hands on the steering wheel.
When talking to white drivers, officers struck a respectful tone, using words such as “sir,” “ma’am,” “please” and “thank you.” And the officers frequently apologized to white people for having to stop them, and then offered safe-travel wishes when they let white drivers get on their way.
But when Oakland officers stopped black people, well, the study found that officers were disrespectful, resorting to jive talk by referring to drivers as “bro” and “my man.”
If it weren’t already apparent that the Oakland Police Department needs an overhaul, courtappointed investigators released a scathing report this week on the department’s shoddy investigation into allegations that officers had sex with a minor. A key finding was that police officers had a bias against the victim because she was a prostitute, so they didn’t see the case as a priority and didn’t take her seriously.
We know police have biases against black and brown people. Is there any wonder why black and brown people overwhelmingly don’t trust police?
It’s no wonder why many white people do. They’re simply treated differently, better. And they don’t have to worry that they might get shot by an officer who fears the color of their skin. That’s white privilege. That’s why I believe that if Castile had been white, he’d still be alive.
Skeptics argued that the video didn’t show what led to the shooting, which was code for Castile must’ve done something to provoke Yanez, because police officers simply don’t shoot people without cause. I wish that were true. And I wish being black and “fitting a description” wasn’t a death sentence.
But it is — and it won’t stop until the systemic failures in police departments are addressed.
After watching the video of Castile’s death, tell me who you think was more of a menace to society.