My drawings this week are pretty random. And a day late, sorry people. I’m having a hard time neatly tying up how I feel these days. I just don’t have the heart to illustrate this theme right now.
Officer-involved shooting.
Three weeks ago the Chicago police killed a 13 year old kid, Adam Toledo while his hands were up. The cop who shot him decided in a split second to shoot him. Was he protecting himself? Was he protecting the neighborhood? Think of your kids or nieces, or nephews at 13 years old. The prosecutor said that Adam had a gun in his hand, which if you watch the released video was not true.
Officer-involved shooting.
Last week, Knoxville police killed Anthony J. Thompson Jr., in the bathroom of Austin-East Magnet High School. The original report from investigators indicated that the student shot an officer, and the officer then returned fire, killing the 17 year old. That report was later updated to indicate that the officer was wounded by a shot fired from his own weapon. Were the police protecting the students by opening fire in a high school? Protecting the community? Protecting themselves?
Accidental discharge.
On day 13 of the Derek Chauvin trial, Daunte Wright was killed by Kim Porter in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. A senior officer who had been on the job for 26 years. A cop who trained other cops grabbed her handgun instead of her taser. Clearly a mistake.
But, why tase him in the first place? Was Kim Porter protecting the community? Protecting her fellow cops? Herself?
Seems like it was about control. Obey the officer, or they’ll fuck you up. Even if they just think you’re not obeying them. Even if the citizen is afraid to move, to stop, to submit.
It’s as hard to keep track of police killings as it is mass shootings. I can’t really keep track; is there one happening right now?
A kid with a gun who won’t come out of his high school bathroom is a serious situation. Do we need to call some armed cops to force him out, or is there another way to deal with children? Maybe a teacher who knows the kid. Maybe a school social worker. Who called the cops? Why don’t cops know how to deal with high stress situations like this? Probably an unfair question. I am aware that scenarios that turn out okay don’t make the news, and they pass by every day without the public knowing about it.
But these mistakes are killing young people before their lives have started.
Bad analogy of the week
You know when you leave fruit sitting around too long, and it gets moldy, you not only have to throw out the moldy fruit, you have to scrub out the container it was in. It’s not a few bad apples that keep showing up over and over and over and… It’s the system. Fix the cops.
You may have read my earlier thoughts on defunding the police. If anything I’m firmer on the side of taking a bunch of money out of their budget. Maybe take half out, and spend it on community health, high school counseling, and job programs for kids in defunded communities. Also, disband police unions everywhere. They aren’t labor, they’re troops of the state.
Hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent defending bad cops over the last 15 years.
Linkage
Lauren Michele Jackson: Daunte Wright and the grammar of Kim Potter’s resignation
Charles M Blow: Rage is the Only Language I Have Left
Why Amazon Workers Sided With the Company Over a Union
(Spoiler: it’s fear of losing healthcare and the prospect of making less than $15/hr, which is still not the minimum wage in the US)How the 1,127 police killings in 2020 began. 58% of police-involved killings in the U.S. last year began when officers responded to non-violent incidents.
Song of the week
Hat tip to Phil!
Some housekeeping
I’m taking a week off of publishing this to recharge a bit. We’ve been suffering from burnout the last few weeks. The newsletter will resume bright and early on Monday, May 3rd. See you then!
What a week. That’s an excellent analogy, for those of who keep bowls of fruit about.
thanks for creating on this great compost heap, that is us.