Whenever a young (and often unarmed) black male is killed by a white cop — and certainly there are some cases in which the use of deadly force is legitimate — a torrent of excuses gush forth to exculpate the shooter from wrong doing, as well as to shield him or her from punishment. Below is a list of the most commonly used excuses, followed by what they really are saying.
20. It was an “isolated incident” — It rarely ever happens, and it will never happen again. Promise. (But of course my fingers are crossed).
19. It’s really not about race, it’s about thuggish behavior — The wearing of sagging pants is responsible for their deaths. Those pants cause them to stumble right into the line of fire.
18. If a cop hesitates for a split second he could be killed — When the suspect black, it’s better not to take any chances.
17. It’s their culture of dependency — Obviously these thugs have been raised to be dependent, so it’s only normal for them to depend on a white cop to not shoot them. Big, big mistake.
16. Everyone has problems with cops — Even white people get pulled over and given tickets. There’s proof of this out there, if people just open their eyes to it.
15. Life isn’t fair, get over it — The killings are just part of living in America as a minority. They should have kept their black asses in Africa, we’d all be better off.
14. Questionable personal history — The suspect must have done something bad at some point in their life. I detected the strong smell of marijuana in the air.
13. Questionable family history — Someone in their family must have done something bad at some point in their life … they’d probably been to prison or something.
12. Fatherless homes — No one was around to teach him how to survive getting shot. Older blacks know how to take a bullet and shake it off.
11. Both sides do it — Really.
10. Black on black crime is the real problem — Since they kill each other, why shouldn’t white cops be allowed to kill some of them too? Fair is fair. After all, it’s only thinning the herd.
9. Racism exists, but not this time — Yeah, certainly the last time, and probably the next time, but definitely not this time.
8. You don’t have all of the facts — And the reason you don’t have all the facts is because we’re still making them up as we go along. Give us a minute here.
7. Don’t blame me for what my ancestors did — Just because my father and uncle were cops, and they randomly killed black youths in their day, that doesn’t mean the same values were handed down to me. I made up my own mind on this … all on my own.
6. Black people just hate white people — And we’ve never done anything but be nice to them ever since they came here in chains almost 400 years ago.
5. Cops don’t see race — It’s really only about skin color, we don’t care about race.
4. He went for my gun — Let me see him prove otherwise. Oh, he’s dead!
3. White victims are not reported — Since white families trust cops, they never complain, they simply move on with their lives. Black folks should learn to do the same. Jeez.
2. Dr. King would agree with me — Well, maybe he would not, but since he’s not around to say otherwise, I can use him all I want.
And the number one reason white cops shoot and kill black youth is …
1. I was in fear for my life — But then, I’m always in fear for my life when I’m around black people. I think it’s genetic, and therefore it’s not really my fault.
[Photo: Franco Folini (Flickr)]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
2 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Top 20 Cop Excuses”
Kevin
Warning! 2 police killed in NYC, now NYPD is talking stupid in a dangerous way http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/20/new-york-police-union-mayor_n_6361046.html
Cicero
How about this for an excuse. 100% of the young black “youths” recently reported as getting shot were in the process of committing crimes, resisting arrest, or attacking police officers.
Tell them not to act like uncivilized animals and they won’t get shot. What’s wrong with that?
I am getting pretty tired of these faux “civil rights” protesters illegally blocking the public thoroughfares, rioting, and destroying citizens’ property. To say nothing of assassinating police officers.
One of the signs carried by “protesters” in NYC last night said http://www.revcom.com. Google that and see who is behind all this lawlessness. Like Sharpton, they actually want more young blacks to get killed so they can use their deaths as a political prop.