It never ends. Despite the ongoing nationwide and even global protests in the wake of the racist police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a white Atlanta cop shot a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, 27 years old, in the back. He was the father of five daughters, including two who were stepchildren, and a sixth daughter on the way.
Police had arrested Brooks after he fell asleep in his car in the drive-through lane of a Wendy’s. When they tried to cuff him, he fought back, grabbed a taser from a cop, and ran. One of the cops shot Brooks in the back just a few yards away, leaving him dead. The cops waited over two minutes to check his pulse after shooting Brooks, feeling the need to put on gloves and pick up the shell casings first!
Killed for falling asleep in the wrong place! Shot in the back! Protests erupted at the Wendy’s and other parts of Atlanta. We all have to raise our voices and protest this outrage! “Protect and serve” is a familiar cop slogan. But really it’s “shoot to kill,” especially when their victim is Black. Let’s start telling the truth, that they stand over us to protect the wealth and power of the One Percent, not the rest of us, and obviously not Black people.
featured image credit: NBC News