Some of the controversy stemming from the killing of Michael Brown is due to the fact that we simply don’t know, and will almost certainly never know, exactly what happened in the final moments of his life. But such is not the case in the killing of Milton Hall, a 49 year old African American man suffering from both mental illness and homelessness.
Two and a half years ago, in July 2012, eight Saginaw Michigan police officers opened fire on Hall in what appears to be a mall parking lot. They fired a collective 46 shots. Hall reportedly had pulled out a pen knife in response to the presence of a police dog at the scene. Watch for yourself.
This is somewhere beyond horrifying. Hall looked to be a good 20-25 feet away from the nearest cop. What is perhaps even more horrifying is that a Justice Department investigation found no evidence of willful misconduct on the part of the police officers involved. What? This is established standard operating procedure in police departments across the country? This is how they’re trained to deal with situations like this?
Something is profoundly wrong here.
In every major race riot in the United States, since 1919, has been caused by a white police officer murdering, or brutally assaulting, a black man. It seems to be a habit among white police officers to do this. (The 1919 Chicago riot was caused when a black boy, floating on a board, floated in front of white beach. White beach-goers stoned the boy to death.)
Steve, thanks.
Another part of this is that police officers are increasingly under pressure to bring in more revenue, from tickets,…..
“Cops In Texas Seize Millions By ‘Policing for Profit”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/06/05/cops-in-texas-seize-millions-by-policing-for-profit/
Below is a video very similar to the killing of Milton Hall.
“St. Louis Police Release Video Of Kajieme Powell Killing That Appears At Odds With Their Story”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/20/kajieme-powell-shooting_n_5696546.html
Kajieme Powell had a long history of mental illness and had just shop lifted. From the video it’s clear he wasn’t any threat to the two police officers, but he most certainly was a threat to himself (he’s telling the police officers to shoot him) and others. The point of having well paid, well trained police officers is that they arrest people without killing/maiming them. If police officers are allowed to empty their weapons into citizens and then claim self-defense, why do we need them? We could just be very liberal with C&C permits and let the courts sort out the carnage.
I believe we need robust, well compensated, well trained law enforcement. That’s why these video clips are so disturbing.
Don’t pull a weapon or attack the police…….
Erik,
You’ve got two videos above. W/R/T Mr. Hall, please provide the earliest time stamp when you consider him any physical threat, no matter how slight, to ANY of the officers.
Frankly, Mr. Hall’s execution is worse than this fictional one from PALE RIDER. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciez9G4cADE This clip lasts about three-minutes.
W/R/T Mr. Powell, please provide any time stamp when you a) see a weapon.
If you think you see a weapon, please identify what it is, and which hand he’s holding it in.
b) see Mr. Powell “attack” either of those two officers.
Thanks in advance.
John,
I’m not keeping track of all the names that come up, but this one seems like the latest to be completely ignored. Ignorance knows no bounds as that 4:42 comment indicates.
As strong a condemnation of the PtB and of unequal justice, for awhile, from the Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/article/191505/why-ferguson-burns?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=onsite
More black babies have been killed by their dunk or high black mothers in the past year in Milwaukee alone than all black men by white cops inn the same time period nationwide
why don’t you care about all of the black babies that are smothered to death on a routine basis
maybe fat drunken or stoned black baby killing is OK in your mind but in my mind it is wrong. Black babies have every right to live. Fat drunken and drugged out mothers should not be able to smother them and get away with it.
I suppose you would argue it is the white man’s fault that black babies are being killed at an alarming rate in the city of Milwaukee.
Nice to see compassion and passion on your issue that really deserves a post of its own. But that is not the topic of this post, so your suppositions about anyone caring or not, or placing blame, are a bit misplaced. Have you considered writing a post and submitting it to Zach?
So you are ok with black babies being murdered.
Got it!
I for one am not, and would bet that if even one black baby was murdered by a white person for any reason whatsoever the whole world would blow up with protesters. But if several black babies are murdered by their drunken mothers that is fine.
I still can’t get over how lucky officer Wilson was that day. According to the experts on this board officer Wilson was clearly looking to murder a black man that day. How extraordinary really lucky was it for him to pick a innocent black man who just happened to rob a convenience store seriously how lucky is officer Wilson.
chris,
One of your buddies that uses your “chris” handle already tried this on another thread.
“Mike Brown, Ferguson Victim, paid for his Rellos”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1FUJqhew
If you’re gonna share the same handle, shouldn’t you guys read each other’s comments?
It happens that Chris is a common name, which is why I always use my full name. As for reading other’s comments, you know as well as I do that that is often not worth the trouble.
John: Seriously… Yeah he paid for his rellos…. RIGHT I always pay for my rellos then rip them out of the hand of the store clerk. I’m starting to question your brain. It isn’t working too well.
The common thread throughout all of the cops-murdering-black-guys discussions is a denial of the existence of racism coupled with victim blaming. Throughout America’s history, we have always condoned the murder of blacks. Today’s cops are either brutal psychopaths, or cowards who won’t speak out against their crazy comrades. The entire system is corrupt, from top to bottom, and it thrives on our culture of violence.