We Can Not Hug Away Injustice By Tracey L. Rogers !
(2019-10-10 at 03:10:53 )

We Can Not Hug Away Injustice By Tracey L. Rogers

Brandt Jeans embrace of the officer who killed his brother Botham was touching - and also frustrating

We caught a glimpse of humanity recently when Amber Guyger, a former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean, was embraced with compassion by the victims brother.

Ms Guyger shot Jean in his own apartment while he was sitting on his couch eating ice cream. Though Guyger lived on an entirely different floor, she thought she was entering her own home after a long shift.

Ms Guygers defense was that she felt "scared she would be killed" upon seeing Mr. Jeans silhouette. Instead of calling for backup, Ms Guyger drew her weapon and fired. She did not even attempt to resuscitate Mr. Jean after killing him.

Yet at her sentencing hearing, Bothams brother Brandt Jean offered Ms Guyger his forgiveness, saying he felt no need to see her imprisoned. He even asked the judge if he could give Ms Guyger a hug, and images of their embrace quickly spread.

It was a touching image -and, for many members of the Black community, a frustrating one.

For many of us, it feels like we are constantly being expected to show compassion for the perpetrators of violence towards us.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz almost said as much directly, when he patronizingly praised the Jean familys actions as a "demonstration of Christian love" - as though they were meeting a divine obligation to embrace Bothams killer.

The shock of what happened in that courtroom overshadows the long odds that Ms Guyger was going to be convicted at all.

CNNs headline on the verdict said it all: "Prosecutors Won a Rare Murder Conviction in a Police-Involved Shooting."

It was rare, indeed.

Whether you are Philando Castile at a routine traffic stop, Tamir Rice playing with a toy gun, or one of the countless victims of lynching during the era of Jim Crow, justice for Black lives is hard-won when police are involved.

Many of us felt a terrible anxiety that, like the perpetrators in those cases, Ms Guyger would get off scot-free.

And for a convicted murderer, Mr. Jeans killer nearly did.

Ms Guyger, who was off duty at the time of Mr. Jeans death, received a lenient 10-year sentence, with eligibility for parole after five.

I do not think this sentence fits the crime.

But when Black lives do not matter, what can one expect?

From the beginning, the United States of Americas "law and order" meant the surveillance of non-white minorities.

Policing itself in the United States can be traced back to the 1700s, when "slave patrols" were instituted to monitor and enforce discipline on enslaved Africans.

Made up of armed white men, these patrols evolved into state militias and, eventually, modern-day police forces.

That is why the justice system continues to be unjust for people of color - it was designed that way.

It is why many Black United States of Americans increasingly feel that Black grace is not something to be celebrated.

And it is why, after Black parishioners of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston publicly forgave the neo-Nazi who massacred nine of their members, some of us worried that our "forgiveness" perpetuated a "slave mentality" that absolved our oppressors.

Having been on the receiving end of centuries of white terror and racism, we know all too well the costs of not receiving grace or humanity in return.

Despite the Jean familys forgiveness, reports emerged that Joshua Brown - a key witness in the case against Ms Guyger - had been murdered just 10 days after his testimony. Was it retribution? How can we not wonder?

"Our lives must move on," Botham Jeans mother said after the trial, "but our lives must move on with change." She called out the Dallas police department, shaming it for its racist biases and corrupt handling of the case.

For the Jeans, change not only looks like hugs and forgiveness. Change also looks like ensuring Black lives matter in a court of law.

Reprinted here with permission from "Otherwords.org" -Bold Opinions for Newspapers and New Media-