When undercover cops broke in an 92-year-old woman’s house in Atlanta in 2006, they claimed that three of them were shot. The media instead of questioning the information, reported that 3 cops had been shot.
No matter where you went, from the braid shop in West End ot the black bank, nobody believed the report. The surrrounding community had said foul immediately.
As more questions came, and one cop retired. The cops started changing their story. The news media reported that black families and individuals were shelterin drug dealers. There was a sketch released of someone, rumored to have stayed with Ms. Kathryn Johnston, who allegedly was dealing drugs.
Reports claimed drug had been found in the house. But the truth is that none of that was true. The police went in the womena’s houwe with a no-knock warrant. She got her little pee shooter of a un, and tried to scare away who was breaking in. They emptied their guns at point blank range and then shot each other to cover up, what has not been called, but was an assassination, or execution.
Today three cops, all white, got sentenced. The longest sentence was only ten years and the shortest term was only five years. The cops all changed their pleas and confessed that the pressure of meeting a quota for drug busts led them to lie.
Now there are so many things wrong. It’s almost hard to know where to begin. The family of the victim, got the youngh Reverned Markell Hutchings to be their spokesman. He questioned the police raid and procedures. Their story fell apart, under just a likttle scrutinly.
It is good that the cops have apologized and been sentenced. But is it fair. OJ Simpson got more time, for trying to recopu his own memorabilia. The black teenager, who accidentally shoots their elderly neighbor would probably get life. The bottomline is that extenuating circumstances do not help black folks even in cirmes of passion, like when the abused wife stabs the husband.
I just wished justice was equal and fair for everyone. I just wich the whole community acknowledged, in a day of mourning that what happened to Ms. Johnston is not an isolated incident. It happens all the times. Consider the California case, where a copy said he meant to taser a young man, being held down on the ground and cuffed, but instead shot him at point blank range.
There is a national problem with how cops, black or white, treat black suspects. There needs to be a national requirement for multi-cultural and black sensitivity training.
Ms. Johnston was sitting in her own home, minding her own business, when cops took her life. Her blood cries out for justice and the sentences these Atlanta cops got is not propottionate, when considered against the sentences black folks get.
My young cousin shot a drug dealer in her yard. She’d told him to leave, then went inside and got her pistol. He bled while riding around the county, not seeking medical assistance. She got 10 years for a first offense.
Cops are trained to protect and serve. These Atlanta cops did neither. Their sentences don’t send the message that black life is just as valuable as anybody else’s.
