I just don't have the same view as the forum on this one. It was an accident and from all of the research I've gathered the media is manipulating it to a race issue based on other events across the country.
Why is there no focus on the fact this guy was putting illegal firearms on the atreets of Tulsa? That his reputation of domestic abuse and armed robbery leave a lot to be desired?
Race relations are important to me coming from a very diverse family and I'm well-aware that racism still exist. But we're doing ourselves a great disservice by letting the media make this into a race issue. It actually kind of infuriates me.
I don't see most media outlets focusing on the race issue, even though recent history seems to indicate incidents such as this are about a billion times more likely to happen to black men. Other than a statistical link, I don't think anyone has played the race card.
And yes, the guy was a criminal. Every story mentions him being a felon who was selling a gun to undercover deputies. I knew the criminal background of the victim before I knew the background of the man who shot him. So, we are focusing on that.
But why? Other than making you feel better about our government killing another person, what does that prove? What relevance does it have?
It would be important if they had shot a man and argued it was perceived self defense. "I thought he was going for a gun - sorry." The fact that the man was known to have firearms would matter for sure in that discussion. But that isn't what we are talking about.
"Oh sh!t, in shot him. Sorry."
When you mistake a 357 revolver for a taser, you are a deadly threat to anyone who may be tased. Drunk people. Mentally handicapped people. People having an episode or on drugs. Protestors. Even college students who as rude questions to presidential candidates get Tased. And yes, people who run from the police for crimes large and small get Taxed. If he "accidentally" shoots any of them to death, it's the same crime.
If I murder a hooker or murder a priest, its the same crime. Who you perpatrate a crime against rarely matters.
Here is a fact that modern Americans too often don't get:
The rights of the "lowest" members of our society are the first to erode. Once you can establish that people society doesn't like have lesser rights, it is easy to erode all other rights. And even of that doesn't happen, if we can take away rights from some, all we have to do to take away your rights is to paint you as an undesirable.
"He was on PCP, committed a crime, and ran from police. We had no choice."
A similar line is very often given when a citizen is killed by the government, in this case it is a half lie - in many cases evidence shows it is a total lie. In all cases, the most extreme exercise of governmental power should be carefully examined by someone outside the group who did the killing.