Not One Brick Thrown

An editorial by Chris Bayless.

On July 15th, 2017, Justine Damond, a 40-year-old Australian-American, was shot and killed by Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American, Minneapolis Police officer. She was unarmed, didn’t fight with the police. Didn’t have meth and fentanyl in her system, hadn’t committed a crime.  As it turned out, she had actually initiated the 911 call to report a sexual assault. As she was walking up to the squad car to tell the officers what happened she was shot by Officer Noor. Noor was charged, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Beyond tragic. 

We understand there are hundreds of years’ worth of good reasons that some folks in Black communities are disenfranchised and angry. Our main objection – indeed, it infuriates us – is those affluent folks who’ve had every advantage, who join violent riots, attack Police, loot and burn cities in the name of social justice, because it makes them feel good, without truly knowing the facts. That’s the population to whom this paper is directed. Read on.

The Washington Post collection of shooting data involving the police nationwide that we used as our proxy for all the reporting out there is extensive. But for all those journalists’ efforts, I don’t see the data on the number of times a police officer would have been legally justified in using lethal force but didn’t. 

But still…

Do Social Justice “Warriors”, aka protesters, know what police officers do, or see every day? How many of them have ever gone into these at-risk communities and helped tutor an at-risk student? How many have invested their own money to rebuild an abandoned house and turn it into a safe affordable housing unit? How many have gone into these at-risk communities and risked their own life, to help ferret out violent criminal predators who prey upon the law-abiding people that are just trying to survive? How many have volunteered, became a mentor, or financially supported programs for at risk students in organizations like Jahmal Cole’s “My Block My Hood My City” in Chicago? The answer, very few, if any. 

The police, on average, have over 50+ million contacts with the public per year. Everything from traffic tickets, armed robberies to murder. During those contacts, 12 unarmed blacks were killed. The circumstances about those 12 cases are documented above. (Two of them were in vehicles with guns on the floor. We respectfully contend that those individuals should be considered armed.) Those instances where the police acted beyond the scope of their duty, or where the killing was not justified, the officers were arrested and charged accordingly. To say that there is a genocide going on at the hands of police across the country is absurd.

But the Social Justice Warriors say different. We watch a suburban “Karen” fresh from consuming a triple shot venti caramel macchiato (no whip no foam) screaming hysterically about the evils of racism directly in the face of black police officers in DC. “Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you’re not part of the problem”.

Are you serious?

The Social Justice Warriors are so outraged at this injustice that they help torch and loot neighborhoods where they don’t even live. After the protest, they get to go back to their homes in neighborhoods away from the violence, have a turkey sandwich, and try to see if CNN captured them enjoying their outrage. 

This is what happened to Brian Bartels. Brian got caught inciting a riot in Pittsburgh, PA. Apparently, Brian, in his outrage, lit a police car on fire. CNN got it on tape. But that’s ok because Brian’s mom and dad turned him into the police the next day. Brian lives at home in his parent’s basement along with his participation trophy. Brian later apologized for the arson and inciting a riot. 

Then there’s 19-year-old Social Justice Warrior Christian Rea. Christian was charged in federal court with one count of civil unrest. Christian, identified in photos by the Tommy Hilfiger shirt he was wearing, confessed to throwing an explosive device that injured several police officers in Naperville, IL. Federal Magistrate, Judge Beth Jantz, released Christian into the custody of his mom. Christian, my brother, seriously, you lost all of your Warrior “street cred” when you were released to your mom. Keep your head up brother as you navigate the “mean streets” of suburban Chicago. 

On May 31st, 2020, 18 unarmed Blacks were killed in Chicago in 24 hours: none by the police. That’s six more unarmed blacks shot in one 24-hour period, than the 12 unarmed blacks that were shot by the police in all of 2019 nationwide. Eighty-five other people were shot, but survived, that same weekend. One 24-hour period. Not one BLM protest.

Think back to 1994. Remember Robert “Yummy” Sandifer, a known shooter for the Black Disciple street gang in Chicago? The Chicago Police were looking to arrest Yummy for shooting three people, one of whom died. 
Yummy was 11 years old.

Before the police could find Yummy, two fellow Black Disciple gang members executed him. Shot him twice in the back of the head. Those two gang members, who executed Yummy, were also brothers, one 14 and the other 16. Any Social Justice Warriors swarming all over the Roseland neighborhood in protest? Nope.   

Very few Social Justice Warriors came out and protested in November 2015, after a 9-year-old, Tyshawn Lee, was lured into an alley in Chicago, and executed by a gunshot to the head by another 14-year-old. Gang retaliation against Lee’s father. 

Or, how about Demetrius Griffin, Jr.?  In 2016, the 15-year-old was burned alive in a garbage can in an alley in the South Austin neighborhood of Chicago. He never returned home after walking his girlfriend home from school. A community prayer vigil in the following days garnered a little over 150 people. The initial reward offered by The Leaders’ Network ministry, to bring the killers to justice, $2,500.  

Very few if any Social Justice Warriors protested when a mentally disabled teenager was kidnapped and tortured by five teenagers in Chicago. The kidnappers live streamed it to others who clapped, cheered, and egged them on. No Social justice warrior saw fit to call the police. At one point they called his mom, sent her a video of what they were doing to him, and demanded $300.00 dollars to stop. Not one brick thrown.

We should be outraged by the actions of the officer in Minnesota as they pertain to Mr. Floyd. We should be equally outraged by the decades of relentless everyday violence that occurs in the neighborhoods on the South and West side of Chicago. Violence that the Chicago Police officers AND the law-abiding citizens of those communities see, and deal with, every day. But we aren’t.
50+ million contacts per year between the police and the public. 12 unarmed blacks/African Americans were shot and killed. Of those 12, three were found to be unjustified and the officers were charged accordingly. 18 African Americans murdered in Chicago in one day. Yes, you could argue that a genocide is occurring, but it is not at the hands of the police. 

Where is the outrage about that?

Links to a few of the articles mentioned in the Editorial by Chris;