Tamir Rice

On November 22nd  of last year, a police officer shot and killed Tamir Rice less than two seconds after getting out of his cruiser.

Today a grand jury declined to indict him or his partner for the murder.

This despite the video that clearly shows the shooting, this despite the fact that Rice had nothing other than a toy gun and didn't have a chance to either make a threatening move or to put his hands up, this despite the fact that even if it was a real gun, Ohio is an open carry state so having it wouldn't have been illegal.
I wonder if the NRA is going to make a comment about how a civil liberty was being ignored? Actually I don't, they won't.

The so called prosecutor on the case worked more as a defense for the murderer and, just like with so many other cases, influenced the jury at every stage of the process to return a non-indictment verdict.

Remember, when a grand jury convenes, they aren't judging guilt, it isn't a full trial, they are simply judging if there is enough cause to justify going to trial. And for any other killer in America not wearing a badge there certainly would have been, or possibly if the victim had a skin color other than brown there might have been.

But he didn't, and the public seems to increasingly feel that having a badge means open season on minorities, and that this is both expected and acceptable. The entire legal system is built around letting the authorities get away with whatever they feel like doing, from petty theft to murder, as long as they do it to the underclasses

And of course, it is another example of the nations love affair with guns and how it ties into the entire racism/classism/toxic masculinity mess. Tamir Rice would probably be alive today if that cop didn't have a firearm, Tamir Rice would probably be alive today if he was white, Tamir Rice would probably be alive today if that cop didn't think he needed to use his gun to feel like a man, if he wasn't such a coward he could have assessed the situation before firing, if he wasn't such a racist he wouldn't have fired at all.

And people crawl out of the woodwork to defend him, "It's a hard job!" they wail, "You need to make split second decisions." they argue, "That boy shouldn't have been there anyway!" the snivel, the cowards, the racists, the spineless shitheels saying the same mindless drivel every time one of those charged with our protection commits murder. They are worthy of less respect than the out and out white supremacists who celebrate that another one of "them" won't grow up, at least the white supremacist isn't hiding his ideology behind some facade of caring, at least he isn't pretending the victims are worthy of consideration. And make no mistake, the apologists believe very little different than the overt racists, they just know they will be condemned if they say it, so they keep their dog-whistles out and eye their partners who don't hide their views with envy as they justify another killing.

The police don't deserve their guns, and increasingly they don't deserve our respect, yeah it's a hard job, and nobody forced you to take it, but you did, so perhaps you should attempt to actually do the fucking thing right? Yeah you have to make snap decisions, but here's the thing, your snap decisions have to do with how you protect the public, not how you protect yourself, if you think a twelve year old needs to be gunned down in the street almost before you get out of the car, then perhaps you don't have the courage to do the job after all, if you aren't willing to risk your life to prevent the needless death of a civilian, then you don't deserve the badge. We are less safe with you on the force, leave the force, go into nearly any other job as along as it doesn't involve you being in power and having a weapon.

In the past I have tried to avoid generalizing when I complain about cops, but I am not doing that today, the cops do not deserve it, yes, of course there are good people on the force, and yes there are many, perhaps a majority, of non-racist power mad cowards as well, but you know what? As long as they refuse to rein in the excesses of their profession, as long as they cover up crimes their brothers in blue commit, or stay silent when they see violations of law or policy, they are as complicit as the scum who shot Tamir Rice over a year ago, and they don't deserve their badges either.

Justice is for everybody, or it is for nobody.

There is no justice for Tamir Rice.