April has been a mad one! We somewhat came out of lockdown here in the UK and as we tried to acclimatise to our new freedom, 20th April made us question what freedom truly means?
I’m talking, of course, about the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old black teenager, Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.
On the very same day as the world cheered upon hearing the guilty verdict of police officer Derek Chauvin who murdered George Floyd on 25th May 2020 in Minneapolis, sparking a worldwide protest on police brutality against black men and women in the USA as well as highlighting various aspects of racism against people of colour on a global scale, we witnessed yet another black girl shot down by the police.
Reports suggest Ma’Khia was in possession of a knife and was seen charging at another civilian with the weapon. The body cam footage shows police shouting ‘get down’ as they fired, killing her instantly. Her Aunt claims she was simply defending herself and did not deserve to be killed ‘like a dog in the street’.
Reports so far suggest the incident occurred after an argument about a messy room between Ma’Khia and another girl she was living with at her foster home.
As we await any further follow up reports and inquests and investigations, on the face of it, the police have once again shot down another black woman in the USA. Was she mentally unstable? Was she simply defending herself? And could she have been disarmed without being killed?
Let’s observe an incident on 11th October 2020 in Hillsborough, Florida where 21-year-old Nicholas Furgason was cornered by police after he rejected his family’s proposal to have him sectioned at a mental facility, causing him to run away. Deputy Charles Williams said when they found Furgason, they tried to use ‘de-escalation’ techniques in order to calm him down and asked him ‘not to be scared’, which at first worked but as he grabbed Furgason, the deputy was stabbed in the neck.
As Furgason ran after stabbing the deputy, he was tasered and detained.
Now let’s think back to the incident in which Ma’Khia was shot dead, were any de-escalation tactics used? Was she asked if she was scared? Was any attempt made to taser her? In fact, were any attempts made to disarm her before fatally shooting her?
These two incidents are not rare, time and time again, we can see the police will apply different techniques on a person in the same situation based on who they personally perceive to be a threat, and it just happens to be that while the white man, Furgason, was treated with care and respect after attacking an officer of the law, the same technique was not applied to a young black teenager, Ma’Khia, who had not actually used her weapon on anyone when she was shot.
So, we can cheer for guilty verdicts, which let’s face it, most likely would not have happened if the world didn’t rise up in protest, but until the police can prove every technique has been exhausted in every encounter and there is a general guideline followed by every police officer in ‘de-escalating’ the situation to avoid death, there truly will never be any real freedom.
Peace and love to the friends and family of George Floyd. And more power and strength to those still blighted by police brutality.