http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-da...NTgwNTA0MTk1S0
"A central issue in cases like this is a failure to fully value black lives. That alone can be deadly. But we should also ask about a companion problem, one that shows itself the most with regard to accountability: an over-weighting of white intentions. As any prosecutor knows, there are offenses on the books that don’t turn on a will to murder, or crude racism, or even unkindness. Officer Pantaleo says that he didn’t want to kill anyone; Officer Wilson was scared. Each of them might still have been charged with a crime."
This is an interesting point. We (or at least, I) focus so much on what the jurors think of the black victim in these cases and how so many Fox-fuckers require blacks to achieve perfect victim status in order to avoid deserving being put down like a rabid dog in the street. But this willingness to believe whatever white cops say to a jury is a problem probably of the same scale. Not all cops are bad, but jesus fucking christ. Not all cops are good. And the cops involved in shootings of unarmed people are probably the ones who trend bad and should not be given the benefit of the doubt on every fucking thing they say.
TM
