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Editorials/Columns
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What’s Going To Control The Cops?
et me start by saying that
I support some level of gun control. I don’t think re- pealing the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution is a good idea. But, I do believe a lot bet- ter job can be done to keep as- sault rifles out of the hands of maniacs....
Including some of those out-of-control individuals who wear badges and drive around in cars with red and blue strobe lights mounted on top.
This is the part of the gun debate that I never hear any- one bringing up at the rallies and marches we so often see broadcast on television. But, the truth is, a 9mm Glock in the hands of a poorly trained and cowardly cop is just as dangerous to Black people as it would be in the hands of a vio- lent lunatic.
I know this is an opinion that probably won’t go over well in a country that paints every member of law enforce- ment as a quasi-superhero. But, the reality is that, cops are just as fallible as any other human being born from a woman’s womb, which means they’re prone to be just as stu- pid and mentally unstable as
anyone else.
We know this because of
the numerous cases of corrup- tion, abuses of authority and reckless displays of force we read about nearly every week. So, if we’re going to have a se- rious conversation about lim- iting the senseless deaths that are caused by firearms, shouldn’t we demand some sort of accountability from those who have access to more guns than anyone else?
To me it’s not enough to simply advocate for laws to keep guns away from certain citizens. We need to do more to make sure that the individ- uals, whose job requires them to carry a holstered weapon, are qualified enough to handle the responsibility.
Personally, I’m tired of hearing about incidents like the one that occurred in Sacra- mento, California, where a 23- year-old Black man was shot 22 times in his grandmother’s backyard by cops who thought his cell phone was a gun or the case out of Houston, Texas where cops killed another un- armed Black man in broad daylight who was walking be- wilderedly towards them with
his pants around his ankles. In both scenarios there was a chance to use alternative methods to subdue the sub- jects in question but, as it so often happens in these situa- tions, lethal force was deemed
most appropriate.
What happened to police
officers using tasers, batons or hand-to-hand combat? Are cops so sorry, lazy and grossly out of shape these days that the only muscles they’re will- ing to work are the ones in their trigger fingers?
This is why, along with any potential gun control legisla- tion, there should also be in- cluded a provision for increased “cop control.” Something designed to rein in the cowboy-renegade behavior that has become so prevalent inside of police forces.
Without a measure like this in place that increases the con- sequences and penalties for police officers who believe in shooting first and asking ques- tions later, I don’t think it ben- efits any Black person, or member of any minority com- munity for that matter, to be part of this current movement. That’s because, while banning some assault rifles may result in a decrease in mass shoot- ings, it will do very little in pre- venting the boys in blue from continuously using the rest of us for target practice.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbarronice @gmail.com.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
‘If You’ll Lie, You’ll Steal . . !’
ome of us are old enough to remember the chill
that went down our spines every time we heard mother, father, grandmother, grandfather or some- one we respected almost unto death pin us with a look of total accusation then say, “If you’ll lie, you’ll steal, and if you’ll steal, you’ll kill . . !”
No doubt, for years, those prophetic comments caused many of us to walk-the-straight-and-narrow on our way to becoming and remaining reasonably model citizens. As for the rest of us, whether we admitted it or not, the ghost of our parents’ tough-love terms served as a warning, if not for us, then at least for the other fellow.
But then there were some who slipped through the cracks. We don’t know how they managed to do so, but as far as we know, they made a habit of lying, cheating, and just short of murder, getting away with it. Come Sunday, those of us who went to church would sit po- lite and quiet while our pastor chastised such sinful folk who seemingly would rather lie than eat. Then with a hearty “Amen,” we would pledge ourselves never to consort with such sinful people.
Imagine then how shocked many of us must be when the very chief executive of our nation seems to have been chiseled from the block of every bad thing our grandparents and parents taught us not to be. What are we to say regarding the axioms and mottos handed down to live by that the current president of our nation seems gleeful in stomping into the ground?
Even worse: what do we tell our children, grand- children, and great, great grandchildren? And therein lies the real catastrophe of our present democracy: Our children stand at the crossroads of our ethics and are prepared to judge, once and for all, whether what we have told them are truths or lies.
Therefore, whether he gets a second chance or not, Donald Trump has brought us and our children to a point of honesty. No doubt, Grandma is smiling up in Heaven and saying, “I told you so.”
Stephon Clark’s Brother Disrupts City Council Meeting
Protesters gathered by the hundreds at the Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday night, March 27th and, like slain citizen Stephon Clark, they held up their cellphones.
“Does this look like a gun?” activist Berry Accius asked Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the other members of the council as those in the crowd extended their arms, phones in hand.
They were protesting the March 18 killing of Clark, 22, an unarmed Black man shot at 20 times by two police officers. Police said the officers be- lieved Clark had a gun, but only a white iPhone was found near his body.
The demonstrators on Tuesday were led by Stevonte Clark, who burst into the meeting about 30 minutes after it began, walked to the council’s dais and sat on it, chanting his brother’s name.
“Stephon Clark! Stephon Clark!” he yelled, clad in a black shirt bearing his
STEVONTE CLARK
brother’s face. And in front of Steinberg, he addressed the crowd: “The mayor and the city of Sacramento has failed all of you.” The demonstration prompted a recess and forced Steinberg to end the meeting early, citing safety concerns.
Steinberg said Clark’s disruption was inappropriate, but the moment revealed un- dercurrents of frustration and tension in a community marked by skepticism of police accountability.
“There is deep pain and an- guish,” Steinberg told The
Washington Post in a phone interview on Wednes- day, March 28th.
“It’s our job to bear some of that pain, and to help translate the anguish and grieving and the historic pain (of Black communities) into tangible and real change.”
Released body-camera footage of the incident, includ- ing delays in providing first aid and the officers’ failure to an- nounce themselves as police, has prompted outrage in Sacramento, calls for account- ability and numerous protests amid recent police killings of unarmed Black men in the country.
Stevonte Clark could not be reached for comment. Cali- fornia Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) and Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn announced earlier Tuesday that the State Department of Justice would provide independent oversight of the police investigation into the shooting.
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