starsoverhead:

nametags:

smdxn:

He was answering our highest calling: to care for and protect the least of these. He did absolutely everything that was demanded of him by the police—and by society, writ large. But today, Charles Kinsey is lucky to be alive.

After going to retrieve a 23-year-old autistic man who had wandered away from a North Miami mental health center, the behavioral therapist was confronted by local police, ordered to the ground and shot with an assault rifle. Despite Kinsey thrusting both hands into the air and complying with the officer’s commands to get on the ground, a so-far unidentified officer shot the unarmed mental health worker and community volunteer….

Kinsey did everything right. With his arms up, legs spread wide and lying on his back, he tried to get his patient to ly down too. He made every attempt to [defuse] the situation, but it wasn’t enough.

Without provocation or any hint of a threat, an officer fired three shots from a high-powered, military-style assault rifle, striking the MacTown Panther Group Home employee once in the leg.

UPDATE: A police union representative said Thursday that the North Miami officer, still unidentified, who fired three shots was actually aiming at a 23-year-old autistic man, who the officer believed was somehow placing behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey in danger. The representative said the officer is sorry, and wished Kinsey a speedy recovery.

The unarmed autistic guy sitting on the ground was a threat to the black guy, so the officer… shot the black guy instead of the autistic guy. Yeah, that makes sense.

And all of this mess started because someone called and claimed the unarmed autistic man’s toy truck was a gun….

And he said he’s sorry.  He fucking said he’s sorry.

This isn’t first grade.  This isn’t a situation where one kid broke the other’s pencil and the teacher is making them apologise.  A fucking ‘I’m sorry” isn’t going to cut it.  Goddamn, somehow that makes me madder than if he’d not said anything.  At least if he’d not said anything, then I could write it off as another police officer being an inveterate, racist jerkface but him saying he’s sorry, as if that will make it all better, just reeks of privilege.

What’s he gonna do next?  Send in a fucking balloon bouquet and an edible arrangement?

meret118:

In a viral video watched by 20 million Facebook users and counting, anti-racism educator Jane Elliott asks her audience a question that gets to the root of systematic racism in America.

Elliott asks all white people in her audience to stand if they “would be happy to be treated as this society in general treats our black citizens.”

The video shares some blank stares from the white audience members as a hush falls over the crowd.

Elliott comments harshly, “You didn’t understand the directions,” and she repeats the question.

“Nobody is standing here,” Elliott says. “That says very plainly that you know what’s happening? You know you don’t want it for you. I want to know why you’re so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen to others.”

It’s a poignant teachable moment for those who haven’t considered empathy as a response to the injustices people of color suffer.

The clip has been circulating widely since last week’s resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests around the country. There have been many cringe-worthy and ignorant responses questioning why black lives matter as opposed to “all lives mattering.” This clip is the perfect response.

You can watch the video at the link.