How My March On The Florida State Capital In 1980 and Amber Guyger Are Connected

 

 Amber Guyger

I recall marching on the state capital in Tallahassee, Fl when I was a student at Florida A&M University 39 years ago after a group of police officers were acquitted in the death of Black ex-Marine and salesman Arthur McDuffie, who they chased as he rode a motorcycle through the streets of Miami, Fl. It was December 1979 when McDuffie died from what the police said were injuries from a motorcycle crash.

During a trial that was moved to Tampa, Fl, a cop at the scene stated McDuffie was beaten to death with flashlights, fists and police batons by the officers that were chasing him. Testimony from a cooperating officer stated McDuffie’s motorcycle was ran over by a squad car to damage it so it appeared to have been in a crash. An all-White jury in Tampa acquitted the officers of all charges related to McDuffie’s death on May 17, 1980 and Miami exploded into riots that resulted in 18 deaths, hundreds of injuries and arrests. Over $100 million of damage occurred in Miami.

Blackphobia - Bluephobia - Police Race and Rage in America

Tallahassee, Fl is 483 miles and 0 miles from Miami, Fl because many students attending Florida A&M were from Miami. After the acquittal verdicts the campus and Black community was wound tight as a drum and ready to explode. Someone ran to each apartment door where I lived off-campus and knocked to let everyone know that the police officers got away with killing a Black man and a March on the capital was scheduled.

Florida A&M was a powder keg with a lit fuse. Bob Graham, the then Governor of Florida, came and gave a speech at Lee Hall, but was almost booed off stage.

Tempers cooled down with time and I left Florida A&M in December of 1980 having completed my 4 years course of study in Marketing. Some 39 years later I got to witness Amber Guyger, a White female police officer get convicted of murder for killing her neighbor while he sat in his apartment because she said she thought it was her own.

Has everything changed since the Miami riots, no, but Guyger is going to prison for what she did to Botham Jean.

Amber Guyger Killed Black Man - Mohammed Noor Killed White Woman

Amber Guyger                Mohammed Noor

White off-duty Dallas, TX policewoman, Amber Guyger, walked to an apartment door in the building where she lived, opened that door and shot a Black man, Botham Jean, who was the resident of the rental unit. Guyger said she thought she was at her own apartment and perceived Botham Jean as an intruder inside her home.

Black on-duty Minneapolis, MN policeman, Mohammed Noor, was sitting in his police cruiser with his partner while responding to a report of a possible sexual assault turned in by Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a White woman. Noor stated a loud noise startled him and his partner just before Damond approached the car window. Noor stated he saw Damond raise her arms, perceived her as a threat and shot her through the window of the car and killed her. Damond died outside her home.

The tale of two cops, one male and Black, and the other, female and White, come about as close as you can get to answering the question of would a Black male policeman killing an innocent White woman in her home get as light of a sentence as the 10 years Amber Guyger got for killing Botham Jean in his apartment while he was eating ice cream and watching a football game. Think about the contrast. Botham Jean was obviously shaken when someone stepped into his apartment unexpectedly and shot him shortly thereafter. Now imagine that you called the police about a possible sexual assault and walked out to meet your possible rescuers and one of them shot you through the squad car window. Two innocent civilians ended up dead at the hands of people sworn to protect and serve them. Race was a flashpoint in the trials of both Noor and Guyger, but from opposite ends of the racial spectrum. White outrage demanded Noor be held accountable for killing Damond and Black outrage and frustration demanded Guyger not get what was perceived as White privilege treatment in whatever conviction and sentence she ultimately received.

Blackphobia - Bluephobia

Both Noor and Guyger were found guilty of murder. Many Blacks felt Noor was found guilty due to his race as many White officers charged with unwarranted deaths of Blacks walked free. Many of all races were shocked that Guyger was found guilty of murder in-spite of her race and some Blacks felt a kind of vindication for all those times White police officers did not serve time after killing minorities even when it was caught on camera. Rejoicing over Guyger's murder conviction turned to rage in the Black community when the jury gave her a 10 year prison sentence and cries of White privilege rang out. Anger ensued when the judge in Noor's trial gave him a 12.5 year sentence that some in Black community thought was too harsh.

For those asking if a Black male police officer would have received a similar sentence as Amber Guyger need to take the case of Mohammed Noor into consideration. Noor received 2.5 years more in prison for killing a White woman who he was dispatched to protect and Amber Guyger got 10 years for killing her Black male neighbor that she said was a mistake due to thinking she was at her own apartment.

Were these cases of Black and White justice or shades of gray?

Are We All Just Another Ni**er To Some Police Officers

I have witnessed two black men die on camera after police officers fired multiple bullets into their bodies. One man, Alton Sterling was being held down by two police officers when they shot him multiple times. One officer yelled “get down!” after the man was shot while he was already being held down. After Sterling was shot multiple times, one of the officers took something out of the dying man’s pocket, it could have been a gun, but if the gun was still in his pocket that meant it wasn’t in his hand threatening the officers. One view of the video shows Sterling’s right hand up by his chest right before he was first shot. Sterling’s left arm was held down by the weight of the officer sitting on top of his body. From my view Sterling was executed in the streets by those we call in times of crisis, but the response to our call should not be the crisis.

The second on-camera death of a black man occurred in Minnesota and is even more frightening because it involves something many of us have been though, a traffic stop. Philando Castile was driving a vehicle that was pulled over by police for a broken tail light. The vehicle was also occupied by his girlfriend and her young daughter who was in the back seat of the vehicle. From all accounts Castile was an upstanding citizen, a supervisor at a school cafeteria and had a license to carry permit. Castile's girlfriend streamed the aftermath of Castle being shot live on facebook® and he literally died before our eyes. Castile’s girlfriend recapped the actions leading up to the shooting and from her account her informed the officer he had a gun and right to carry permit and was reaching for his license. Keep in mind that Castile was involved in a traffic stop for a broken tail light and ended up dead. It reminds us how something that seems so mundane can lead to you losing your life.

I recall a traffic stop in my past when after I was driving with my family in my hometown. I had the cruise control of my SUV set at the posted speed limit. My vehicle had no mechanical or safety defect that would warrant a traffic stop by the police, yet that night after leaving a Walmart and driving to my relatives’ home the road lit up behind me as a police cruiser’s lights were activated. I slowed and pulled my vehicle over to the shoulder of the highway.  The police officer approached the driver’s side of my vehicle. I asked the officer what was the problem.

I was told that he got a call on his cell phone that a vehicle was driving slowing on the highway. I informed the officer that I was using my cruise control that was set at the posted speed limit. The officer shined his flashlight in the face of my, my wife and son who was sitting in the back seat. He shined his flashlight beam on the vehicle’s registration sticker on the windshield. I quite sure the officer ran my license tag number before he stopped me. After failing the find any legitimate reason to hold me, the officer’s voice became shaky and he praised my safe driving and said he wished everyone on the road drove as safely as I did. Now, I realize how dangerous that apparently mundane traffic stop really was since it never should have happened in the first place. If there had been any minor issue to give a reason for the officer to cite some potential violation of the law it could have been a reason for a potential escalation of tension, that as we have seen over the years, could lead to death. When the wrong cop shows up nothing else matters. Your social status, wealth, education or profession matter little when you are engaged with someone frightened, but has the authority and means to end your life in an instant. Everyone this happens to is not black, 26-year-old Daniel Shaver from Granbury, Texas begged an Arizona police office not to shoot him, before the officer shot him 5 times with his AR-15 rifle. Shaver was White and unarmed.  Shaver was killed in March of 2016.

We have entered a very dangerous period where an attitude of fear and aggressive reaction seem to be quite prevalent in law enforcement. If some police officers can’t deal with other individuals as fellow citizens, human beings and mostly rational people in mundane situations like a traffic stop, then they need to find another profession, stop killing us and staining the name of real police officers doing things the right way.