In one of the first police brutality cases to use body camera footage, former police officer Ray Tensing has pleaded not guilty to the July 19 shooting death of Sam DuBose. His bail was set at $1 million which resulted in applause from some of the courtroom. The outrage of Tensing’s actions has been loud:
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced the charges at a news conference this week. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make — totally unwarranted,” he said. “It’s an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless.”
Team Blackness talked about the case, the five black women that have been found dead in jail since mid-July, and the never-ending outrage that is Cecil the lion’s death.
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Lee Rudolph
I was listening to the radio this morning, and the newcaster played audio from the courtroom where the judge had just allowed the killer cop to be bailed out for $1,000,000; as she agreed, cheers broke out. FFS.
Lavocat
Here’s the thing: as far as I can tell, the killing of Cecil the Lion, though utterly morally reprehensible, was perfectly legal. Yet, people are going nuts over this “rogue” dentist. On the other hand, the killing of Sam DuBose, though perfectly illegal, seems to be just another statistic on a government chart. We have become so anesthetized to Black lives NOT mattering that it’s just a matter of waiting for the next victim-du-jour. It’s not every day that an exotic pet is so publicly slaughtered. However, it IS every day that innocent American Blacks are regularly slaughtered by those whose jobs are purportedly to protect and serve those they slaughter. What a fucked up world.
Fred
@Lavocat: I think there is plenty of outrage about Mr. DuBose’s killing. The quiet is because it seems the perpetrator will actually face justice. It is so unbelievable that nobody knows how to act.
Time will tell but maybe the tide is turning.
Lavocat
@Fred: I just think the odd juxtaposition of a presumably legally killed animal with a presumably police-murdered human is interesting more in what it says about peoples’ values and concerns.
There’s a damned good (and pathetic) reason why it is #BlackLivesMatter and not #AllLivesMatter, and that should be obvious from this odd juxtaposition. It’s as if the gods were purposefully fucking with us.
Think about it: how many people are outraged because a human killed an animal versus how many racists are NOT outraged – because a cop killed an “animal”?
Also, I think everyone can agree that murder must be punished, no matter who perpetrates it. But how about conspiracy to obstruct justice over a murder? Apparently, the Cincinnati grand jury finds this abomination to be perfectly acceptable – so long as it is practiced by white cops when the victim is black. Imagine how different the result would be if the races of the criminal cops and the victim were reversed. It would be as simple as indicting a ham sandwich.
These sorts of cases not only horrifically illustrate that racism is alive and well in America circa 2015, but that it is so deeply ingrained in the culture, media, polity, jurisprudence, morality, ethics, and – yes, the reality – this is America circa 2015, that it seems unlikely that it will ever be meaningfully expunged from our society. It’s as if the cancer has metastasized so extensively that no matter where you attack it, the cancer will reemerge almost anywhere.
I think that the only way that this cancer has any hope of going into remission is for these victims of police violence to become whiter. Right now, America only sees the victims as Them. Things will change when America sees the victims as Us.
bago
Mike O’Malley came out with a few reform ideas, so it’s safe to say the #BLM movement had a wake.
AnonPhenom
@Lavocat:
The lion was not legally killed. It was lured out of a protected area. The bow and arrow DDS is facing poaching charges. I think the outrage has more to do with the particulars of the lion’s death; running around for 40 hours with an arrow in him, being finally trapped and shot, skinned and the attempt to destroy his tracking device.
I don’t see an “odd juxtaposition”. I find your juxtaposition odd.
Lavocat
@AnonPhenom: All initial reports of the lion killing were that it was killed legally – regardless of whether or not the animal suffered horribly.
AnonPhenom
LOL!
And what would your response be to someone who suggested that their outrage, re: #BLM, should be limited to news based on ” all initial reports” and not … Oh say, the video that become available subsequently.
*drops mic*
Carol Ryan
Why do we have to keep pitting the lion against #BLM or any of the many other atrocities of the day? All of these issues are deserving of our outrage and stem from the same callous disregard for life many people seem to engender in this country. Compassion isn’t something that needs to be rationed. And btw if what Palmer did was legal (which it most certainly appears not to be) why are the gears in motion to extradite him?
m.j.
This is the most asinine act i have ever seen…
Yep.
No camera. No crime.