Infinite Loss
It happened again. Another Minnesota police officer executes a young Black man. This time in Brooklyn Center, about ten minutes north of Minneapolis. It happened during a traffic stop. There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered. But one thing we know for sure is that a 20-year-old kid is dead and his child will grow up without a father.
More information can only provide context, not justification. Even if we are to concede the facts of the official story from BCPD, that Daunte Wright was pulled over for some kind of traffic infraction and when officers ran his name it was discovered he had a warrant which led to him re-entering his car and trying to flee, it doesn’t justify killing him. And mind you, I’m not even sure I buy the official story yet. I need to see the video from the officers and know a lot more about the context involving the warrant before I accept anything from the BCPD.
Here’s what I know for sure:
1) Police have shown in recent days that they can arrest mass shooters who are armed to the teeth without killing them. They should be able to do the same with an unarmed 20-year-old kid.
2) If Daunte did have a warrant out for his arrest and flees, so what? The cops aren’t bounty hunters and this isn’t Red Dead Redemption II. Last time I checked, we pretty much moved away from the “Dead or Alive” style wanted posters. If they know who owns the car and where Daunte lives, I’m pretty sure they could arrest him later.
3) The only justification for lethal force allowable is an imminent threat of death. Not listening to cops isn’t. Not cooperating isn’t. Fleeing the scene of a traffic stop certainly isn’t. Unless Daunte Wright was secretly Hannibal Lector and Bin Laden combined, there was no need to kill him.
4) Regardless of what the officers may have known about Daunte during the traffic stop (ex: the details surrounding his alleged warrant or their previous dealings with him, if any exist) executing him is excessive. We’ll have to see what the body camera footage shows to understand it a little better.
5) Why do we have to wait days and weeks for the police to release names, videos, and explanations? I can’t help but feel like it has to do with them getting their stories straight. Why do they get to see and watch the videos before we do? I fear that it gives them the opportunity to see what is/isn’t on them and then concoct their story from there.
6) There will be a lot of coverage about the protests and the looting that occurred last night. I watched a few live streams of it and it was shocking. The police, as they are wont to do, geared up like they were taking on a Terminator and fired upon protestors. The only violence I saw last night at the protests came from the police. People have a right to assemble. If a bunch of yahoos with guns can march around on the capitol steps then a few dozen people can seek redress from the cops who just killed a citizen.
7) No justice, no peace, means what it means. As long as citizens are willing to support or silently sit by as people are murdered by police, then their cities will face unrest. It really is that simple. Does looting solve anything? Ehhhh it depends, I think. It’s not a great look. But I’m not sure what else people should do. You can’t protest the cops because they’ll gas you and shoot you. Politicians have been under lockdown since the terrorist attack of January 6th. And the patience that well-meaning white people have been asking for since the late 1800s is running thin. As James Baldwin once asked, “how much time do you want for your progress?”
All of this is happening while we wait to hear the fate of Derek Chauvin, undoubtedly a murderer regardless of what a jury finds him guilty of.
Over the next few days, we’ll hear a lot about the Daunte Wright. We’ll find out everything “bad” he’s ever done in his life from the time he sold a dime bag to a cop to the time he got suspended from school for talking back to a teacher. His character will be smeared and disparaged, just like all the others before him, in a bizarre attempt to justify his execution. I don’t know what events his story contains or if he’s a “good” kid or a “bad” kid. All I know is that he’s a young man who unnecessarily left behind another fatherless child. The preventable cycle continues.
The loss is infinite.