When the Minneapolis police propped up Terrel Mayes’ mother to ask why weren’t people as outraged about her three-year-old son’s accidental killing by a stray bullet back in 2011 as they are Jamar Clark who was killed by Minneapolis police while handcuffed and unarmed, they stooped to an all-time low. Only the most lowdown, hateful, trifling, mean-spirited, thuggish human beings would pit two murder victim’s mothers against one another to make a political point. But that’s what the Minneapolis power structure did, aided by the police, with an assist from big business media.
There is no doubt that this grieving mother, Marsha Mayes, did not do this on her own. And even if these are her thoughts she wouldn’t think to call a press conference to proclaim them. The power structure put her up to it, proving that not only do they aid and abet killers of citizens by police, but they also have no shame!
Incidentally, the Minneapolis police chief is indeed different, she is more conniving, manipulative, dishonest and callous than any of the men who filled that role in recent years. But it’s not totally the cops’ and the power structure’s fault. Blacks have been running around agreeing with the power structure. “We kill ourselves. So massa, if we kill one another, it surely must be okay for you to kill us.”
For the umpteenth time, let’s examine this false equivalency so that people will stop repeating it. If Terrel Mayes’ killer is caught he/she will be brought to justice. The shooter of young Mayes, if caught, will be arrested and charged with a crime and have his day in court.
However, in the case of the Minneapolis cops Mike Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, who shot and killed Jamar Clark, who witnesses say — not protesters, Star Tribune, the protesters are repeating what the witnesses have said — was handcuffed at the time, will not be arrested, though a dozen folks saw them commit a crime. Not only will they not be arrested and charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but they have been given vacations with pay.
In other words, the likelihood is high that the cops will get away with their crime, murder at worst, manslaughter at best. In fact, the system will seek to use a grand jury so that they can secretly exonerate the killers under cover of law. If a big enough fuss is made by protesters, along with enough other well-meaning citizens, and they protest long enough, there is a slight chance that the cops will be indicted.
So again, unlike in cases like Terrel Mayes and other victim of so-called Black-on-Black crime where the perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted, it’s highly unlikely the police will be charged if history is any indicator. Consequently, the system seeks to justify its actions by engaging in a propaganda war, one that we are losing.
In reality, the crime that occurs among Black folks is usually among poorer Black folks. Middle-class Black folks, Black professionals are not killing one another. And the truth is most folks don’t really care about poor Black folks shooting one another. The only time that we and some White folks are concerned about it is when the White power structure tells us to, in order to distract us from state-sanctioned murder.
Most of the time we could care less about poor Black folks victimizing one another, because if we really cared we would do something about it. So if you aren’t going to get in the fight to stop the system from killing us, or do what you can to improve conditions so that there is less victimization of Black by Blacks, please kindly step aside and be quiet so that the rest of us can get our work done.
Justice then peace.
Mel Reeves welcomes reader response to mellaneous19@yahoo.com.
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