If ISIS killed 217 Americans in one year, the nation would be at war. After police shot Alfred Olango in San Diego, California, he became the 217th Black person killed by police this year, according to Mapping Police Violence.
The incident occurred after Olango’s sister called police after he began acting strangely. He was allegedly disabled and suffered from a seizure moments before being confronted by police officers. But instead of taking the time to realize that Olango was mentally disabled, the police reacted with deadly force. Olango, who was unarmed at the time, was shot by an officer who fired five rounds.
Olango’s death comes one week after the police killings of Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott and Tawon Boyd made national headlines. The ongoing police terrorism against Blacks was a major point in the United Nation’s recent decision on reparations. The U.N. stated that America owes Blacks reparations due to slavery, segregation, racial terrorism, and the recent police shootings of unarmed Black men. They also stated that police violence against Blacks has become a “human rights crisis” that “must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
It’s unlikely that the U.S. government will pay the reparations that are owed anytime soon. However, there is a way to put an end to police officers killing unarmed Black men. Most of the deaths that have been captured on video reveal that the police could have avoided using excessive force. But a lack of proper training and the hiring of officers who have racist tendencies have created this state of emergency.
With three months remaining in 2016, it’s possible that more than 300 Blacks will be killed by police this year. Again, if a terrorist organization killed that many American citizens in a span of nine months, there would be extreme measures taken by the U.S. government against those who were responsible for that violence.
