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By Rickey Hampton, For The African-American Athlete
(Update: Roy Oliver, the officer who shot and killed Jordan Edwards, has been fired by the Balch Springs police department)
It happened again over the weekend. This time it was in suburban Dallas. Another young black man was shot and killed by the police. Hell, he wasn’t even a man.
Jordan Edwards, was only 15. Fifteen!
He was only a kid. He played on the high school football team. He was considered a ‘model’ student at his school. He was attending a party, like high school kids do.
There was absolutely nothing nefarious about this kid….except the color of his skin.
Young Mr. Edwards is the latest in truly, tragic, seemingly unending list of young black men (and sometimes women) who have lost their lives at the hands of police. It goes from coast to coast, north to south.
But as the case has been for generations now, and only being brought to light by technology, this young man happened to cross the path of the police. And, more times than it should ever be possible, that interaction turned deadly for another kid.
Edwards was killed by a rifle bullet fired into the car with five passengers in it.
Initially, police officials said the car was being ‘aggressive’, as if it was attempting to run the officer, Roy Oliver, down. Those reports were incorrect. Or, better put, a damned lie. In fact, reports say video shows the car was actually moving away from the officer, who has yet to be named.
After reviewing video of the incident Balch Spring police chief Johnathn Haber all but admitted that his officer was wrong. He said the shooting “didn’t meet our core values.”
What is tragic here is knowing that the main reason Edwards is dead today is because was black. There is simply no way that officer would have fired into that car if it was filled with white kids.
Clearly, there is a culture among far too many law enforcement officers who feel it is perfectly OK to gun down black men. Even worse, there is silence among far too many who are in law enforcement who don’t speak out on this deadly problem. Those who stand by and allow this to go on are just as guilty as those who commit these grievous actions. Accessories after the fact.
Hopfeully, justice will be done in this matter. Although, we know that isn’t always the case, even with video. The officers who beat Rodney King to a pulp 25-years ago were initially acquitted. The pummeling was on video.
A jury in South Carolina, where officer Michael Slager gunned down Walter Scott in the back, as if he were hunting an animal, and then planted a gun near him, couldn’t come to a verdict despite video (Slager pleaded guilty to excessive force in Federal court today.)
Meanwhile, the justice department announced it will not bring charges against the two Baton Rouge, La. officers who killed Alton Sterling last July.
And to think, there are people out there who are actually insulted when black folks march. Or, when we say Black Lives Matter. We say that because there are simply far too many instances where black lives don’t matter. The shooting of Jordan Edwards looks to be the latest example.
