12 APRIL 15, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
More than a mistake
How many more times must a
Black person be shot and killed
by a police offi cer in America
before this country fully realizes that
something has gone terribly wrong?
Daunte Wright, 20, joined the list
of casualties Sunday night when a
police offi cer shot and killed him in
a “routine” traffi c stop in suburban
Minneapolis, Minnesota. The offi cer
who pulled the trigger on him claimed
it was a tragic mistake; she allegedly
thought she had pulled out her Taser,
not her gun.
A Glock handgun, similar to that
which the offi cer had, weighs 34 ounces
of heavy metal; by comparison, a
Taser, made largely of plastic, weighs
just 8 ounces. The weight diff erence
alone makes the offi cer’s claim almost
implausible.
Even if this incident was merely a
tragic mistake, as the offi cer claims, it
proves her incompetence as a police
offi cer — and she should no longer be
on the force. But the fi rst instinct to
draw her gun, rather than her Taser,
seemed to subconsciously say it all.
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A person lights a candle during a vigil following the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS
Police unions and their supporters
New York.
in government have bristled at any
There must be a culture change
new governance of police. In New
within law enforcement that ensures
York, they’ve seethed at attempts to
“equal justice under law” for every
restrict the use of chokeholds and
American. In this moment of time,
ending qualifi ed immunity, which
we shouldn’t have to live in a society
eff ectively protects cops from being
where families of color have to give
sued for civil rights violations.
“the talk” to their children as to how
But this case — along with other
to behave in interacting with police,
high-profi le police deaths such as
lest they risk being shot.
George Floyd and Breonna Taylor —
No person in this country should get
further underscores the urgent need
behind the wheel thinking that if they
for police reform in America, and in
get pulled over for an infraction, they
may not live to drive away. It is this
scenario that causes further anxiety
among Black and Brown Americans,
and further distrust in offi cers sworn
to protect and serve them.
The answer is not to tell them not to
be anxious or mistrustful.
The answer is to eliminate the
anxiety and mistrust by reforming
police departments to protect citizens
and offi cers alike — and to get rid of
any offi cer incapable or unwilling to
equally protect and serve.
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