Dream Hampton and I were on Democracy NOW! with Amy Goodman this morning discussing the tragedy of Renisha McBride.
***
http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/11/13/slaining-renisha-mcbride-racial-perceptions/
Renisha McBride and racial perceptions
Nov 13, 2013, 9:35 am Local Politics | National Politics | Politics | State Politics
Renisha McBride and racial perceptions
- By Dawud Walid
It’s been over a week since the homicide of a black teen by a white male homeowner in Dearborn Heights, reviving old discussions about the role race and class play in law enforcement detainments, investigations and the criminal justice system.
Renisha McBride, who was killed at the front door of a Dearborn Heights home was unarmed. According to the shooter’s attorney, he accidentally – yet justifiably – shot her because he was frightened. In fact, he was so scared that he opened up the door to shoot her, instead of keeping the door closed.
Huh?
I have vocally posed the question at rallies: Would the Dearborn Heights Police have bought that excuse and not detained and charged the shooter had he been a black, Latino or Arab male shooting an unarmed white girl? I’ve also audibly wondered if the white shooter would have been scared if he saw an injured white female teenager at his door.
Race plays a part in how people view situations. Skin color and dress trigger visceral reactions in most of us. How many of us view a threat based on these prejudices? Let’s be honest.
Our country was founded on racial hierarchies, and our criminal justice system has these vestiges in terms of investigative and prosecutorial discretion. Private citizens have been influenced as well. It is, therefore, an easy conclusion for many of Renisha McBride’s relatives as well as numerous folks in the black community that she was viewed as a threat in large part because of her outward appearance. Moreover, this is why many of us are making comparisons to the Trayvon Martin case in which an unarmed black teen was profiled and killed because of his physical appearance.
I’m glad that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is doing her due diligence in thoroughly investigating this case. Many of us in the civil rights community are confident that she will charge the shooter. Even if the shooter killed McBride by accident, it would qualify as an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The bigger issue: Are we willing to have an honest conversation about how we are not a post-racial nation? How race affects the everyday lives of people of color differently from whites? How we can better ensure that our justice system truly treats everyone equally?
I don’t think that we are, but I pray that we will be one day.
A Message from Britain on the Death of Renisha McBride
I am a middle-aged White British man who lives in Harlow, a town approximately 22 miles Northeast of the centre of London. I am a writer (so far without any commercial success).
I read about the tragic case of Renisha McBride last Friday in a British newspaper called The Guardian, and wrote the following verses in response. Anyone who feels that my composition may be useful is free to use it in any form they see fit. I ask only that my authorship is acknowledged.
The following verses are also attached to this email in the form of a Word document, to facilitate their use.
I hope that justice can be served in this case, those responsible punished, and the law changed.
Regards and Best Wishes
Paul T Kegan
==
The Dear Folk of Dearborn Heights
There’s a suburb of Detroit City
Goes by the name of Dearborn Heights
Where householders stand their ground
Where they know their Goddamn rights
Their idea of assistance
Is a bullet in your head
If you’re young and Black and female
They’ll probably shoot you dead
The highway of compassion
It bypasses Dearborn Heights
On blistering August days
And cold November nights
Renisha McBride crashed her car
At the tender age of nineteen
Early one Saturday morning
On streets unfriendly and mean
She knocked on his door and asked him for help
He picked up his gun and he fired
As from his house she turned away
And on his front porch she expired
“The local police aren’t racist!”
I imagine the outraged cries
How then do we explain
Their filthy racist lies?
Renisha she was dumped
That was what they said
On the porch of an innocent man
She was already dead
The Prosecutor vetoed arrest
In Wayne County it wasn’t a crime
To shoot in the back of her head
A woman, unarmed, in her prime
Because killing Blacks is legal
It’s written in Michigan law
They’re free to gun you down
If you knock upon their door
Black folk can expect no sympathy
In good ol’ Dearborn Heights
Where householders stand their ground
Where they know their Goddamn rights
■
Paul T Kegan 10 November 2013
In memory of Renisha McBride.
==