The policemen who killed John Crawford III in an Ohio Wal-Mart will not be indicted. After a grand jury reviewed evidence, they somehow came to the conclusion that it was appropriate for police officers to use deadly force against a black man holding a toy gun.
Shortly after the grand jury’s decision, the video of Crawford’s murder was released. In the video, Crawford picks up a BB gun from a shelf in Wal-Mart and walks around the store while talking on a cellphone. At all times, the gun is pointed at the ground and never at customers. Crawford is soon ambushed by police and killed in cold blood.
The video proves, again, that police officers are often allowed to kill without repercussions. But this pattern of police crimes against unarmed citizens is no longer a problem for local cities and towns. At this point, police violence has become an American problem.
This past summer, the world watched as Ferguson, Missouri, burned after police officer Darren Wilson killed teenager Michael Brown. Media outlets in London, France, Germany and even Iran and Russia criticized the U.S. for the mistreatment of blacks in America.
This nation has remained active in policing the world when other countries treat their citizens unjustly. But the killings of Crawford, Brown, Eric Garner, Darrien Hunt and Ezell Ford proved that America still has deep racial issues that have yet to be resolved.
After the disturbances in Ferguson slowed down in September, much of the nation focused on the violence caused by ISIS. The terrorist group’s sadistic method of killing prove that they are irrational beings who must be stopped at all costs. President Obama has vowed to put an end to the terror caused by ISIS.
But while looking at a video where Eric Garner is sucking for air as officer Daniel Pantaleo squeezed the life out of him, it’s easy to feel the same uneasiness. When a multitude of eyewitnesses say that Michael Brown held his hands in the air while officer Wilson fired shots into his head without mercy, unwarranted brutality was taking place. While watching Crawford’s execution at the hands of police officer in a Wal-Mart in America, terror was being showcased in its worst form.
America must put an end to the terrorism overseas, but President Obama must also seek to put an end to the terror caused by police officers who are paid by taxpaying citizens to protect and serve.
