Last Thursday night officer Amber Guyger got off duty, entered her apartment, saw the large silhouette of a possible burglar, drew her firearm, and fired two shots. By itself this seems like a simple, cut and dry case. However, Guyger did not enter her own apartment; she accidentally went a floor above her own. The possible burglar was Botham Shem Jean, an unarmed black man age 26 who lived in the apartment. One of her shots hit him in the torso, an injury he later died of while in the hospital. Guyger was charged for manslaughter, but could face more serious charges depending on the grand jury. The investigation has been handed over to the Texas Rangers.
This is an absolutely devastating event, both for the Jean family and the nation as a whole. While it is true that Guyger was right to be wary when she saw the door to what she thought was her apartment was open, her reckless shooting cost Jean his life and a family their son. Personally, I am not well educated on police procedure and therefore unaware of other ways the fateful encounter could have been handled. That, however, doesn't change the fact that this harkens back to a time when all African Americans were thought to be lesser due to biased so-called evidence. Guyger didn't once doubt what she thought was the truth (that she was entering her own apartment and that Jean was dangerous) and permanently, negatively affected others' lives because of her belief.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/us/dallas-police-officer-amber-guyger-arrest/index.html
While you are correct that this is a tragedy, I would question why you have brought race into the limelight. Your summary mentions that Guyger merely saw a silhouette, which does not mean it would have been determinable what race the man was. I am not trying to justify the situation and I believe that its awful that our society has gotten to a place where something like this can happen, but I am inquisitive as to how race was brought to the table.
ReplyDeleteI like what you wrote and i do in fact agree, seeing as i wrote about the same thing, and we had a similar take on it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this is a tragic disgusting waste of human life that's been all too common in the past months, a little bit of satisfaction can be taken from the fact that she was charged unlike many other cops in her same position who get off scott free. We can only hope that this case signals a change towards justice but even if it does, it's awful how long it has taken our society to view this as a problem and a preventable one at that.
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