"This is my sworn testimony. White Plains officers are coming in here to kill me."
And moments later, 68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a U.S. Marine veteran, was proven correct. Tasered and shot dead by officers from the White Plains, NY police department. Given how police officers across the country treat black Americans, whether suspects or innocents, he had good reason to fear for his life. Abagond reveals how the police department attempted to justify his murder, only for said justification to fall apart in the face of video and audio evidence.
That's the important difference between this era and the 1940s and 1950s. Had this crime happened in the latter, the police department's word would be taken at full value and Chamberlain dismissed as "just another crazy nigger who got what he got." Today, you have video and audio surveillance that constantly disproves such assumptions and sheds genuine light on the events that transpired. No wonder officers hate being videotaped or recorded (unless for an episode of "COPS").
Then there's the sad case of Rekia Boyd, an innocent bystander who was killed for "disturbing" an off-duty cop. Here too, did the police attempt to spin a story to justify the officer's actions. Too bad there were several eyewitnesses who saw things differently. There was even a lie thrown in that one of the people with Rekia had a gun. There was no gun found.
The common thread between the killings of Chamberlain, Boyd, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant and countless others? All were minorities who were assumed to be an automatic threat by overzealous and color-aroused cops. Yes, Trayvon was killed by a "neighborhood watch captain," but he had aspirations of being a cop, too. These were human beings who were deemed "threats" and declared fit for disposal, as though their lives and those of their families and friends meant nothing. To wonder why would mean ignoring nearly two centuries of America's racial history and the constant indoctrination and social reinforcement that causes white Americans to see their black American counterparts as their lesser, whether they realize it or not.
This is why black Americans automatically view police officers and other law enforcement officials, on-duty or not, with the utmost suspicion. Not doing so could mean a swift and tragic death. This is something most white Americans have the luxury of not dealing with.
The election of a person of color to the highest office in the U.S. has set off a genuine psychosis among those who view black Americans as threats to their own interests. Conservative politicians played off voters on this very issue. Militias have seen their recruitment numbers skyrocket because of it. Ordinary citizens lost their minds and revealed what they thought about their black American counterparts. Even presidential nomination hopeful Rick Santorum came perilously close to revealing his true colors.
Add up the above and you don't have to wonder if it isn't open season on black Americans.
