All About The Killings Of Unarmed African Americans

By Earlene McGee


Some of the historical injustices on people include the killing of innocent people. It is the recent killings of unarmed African Americans that have sparked public outrage. Statistics show that young and black people are more likely by 4.5 times to die at the hands of security agents in comparison to other ages and races. Looking at historic records, these killings have been there for a while.

What brought public, media and the worlds attention to what was happening to the young African American community was perhaps the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Eric Garner died when police officers put an illegal chokehold on him. As he struggled into unconsciousness he repeated that he could not breathe eleven times. His death was declared a homicide by the medical examiners but the arresting officers were not indicted.

A month later, in August 2014, Michael Brown got shot and killed in Ferguson in unclear circumstances. He was just eighteen at the time and was shot at close range. It is not clear whether he was surrendering or advancing towards the police officers. However, it is crystal clear that the young man was not armed when he also was shot.

Although the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown were the most famous in 2014, other unarmed African American people lost their lives. In November 2014, Akai Gurley was also shot in a dark stairwell in circumstances that were not very clear. In December 2014, Ruman Robinson was found shot and killed in Arizona when police mistook a bottle of pills he carried for a gun. McKenzie Cochran of Michigan, Dante Parker of California and Jordan Baker in Houston and many others also lost their lives.

Even more unarmed African Americans were murdered in 2013. A 34 year old Miriam Carey was found shot in her car by the authorities after a high speed chase. She was in the car with her daughter and both were not armed. She was shot five times and died on the scene. Another death was that of Jonathan Ferrell which occurred after he had already been apprehended by the police.

In 2012, Reynaldo Cuevas got shot and killed by a police as he attempted to flee from smugglers who had been robbing his place of work. The police officer was not found at fault and therefore, his case did not go to the jury. Tamon Robinson was not armed when he was shot running towards his mothers building after he was confronted by the police officers about stealing paving stones.

There are numerous other cases of the shooting and killing of unarmed African American people. In 2010, for example, Danroy Henry and Derrick Jones were shot. Reginald Doucedt in 2011 was shot in 2011 while Ramarley Graham was also shot and killed in 2012. A young man known as Sean Bell was also shot and killed in his car a day before his wedding even though he was not armed.

The year 2000 saw the shooting and killing of Prince Jones, unarmed and in his car. Later the police officer said that he thought Jones was someone else. Amadou Diallo in 1999 was shot as he removed his wallet when it was mistaken for a gun. There are many other cases where African Americans die in the hands of security organs.




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