Ohio, Cleveland - CNN report ,“Prosecutors say the police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice outside a Cleveland recreation center last year won't face criminal charges. Neither will the other officer who was with him.” The grand jury had decided not to indict the officers involved, officer Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. The events that lead up to the homicide of Tamir Rice were acts of human error and misinterpretation, However! Officers are still shooting to kill. That was the case for Tamir. Prosecutors argue the fact that the officer shot Tamir only once, that was one too many. There should have been more effort. The first instinct should not be to shoot. These officers have aim, the have been trained so “mistakes” like this should not have been made.
According to USA TODAY, "He gave me no choice. He reached for the gun and there was nothing I could do," Cleveland police Officer Timothy Loehmann told a fellow officer in the moments after he shot Tamir at a gazebo outside the a recreation center on Nov. 22.” How could a 12 year old not give YOU a choice?? That is absurd! There are many ways that the two officers could have handled the situation. Officer Timothy Loehmann made a conscious decision to shoot and kill Tamir Rice 100 yards from his home.
There is nothing that can be done to bring Tamir back, but justice still needs to be served in his honor. There is surveillance video that shows how both officers had their guns drawn and aimed at Tamir immediately after exiting the patrol car. Which shows that their intentions were to shoot first and think later. That's exactly what they did, Officers are treating the lives of our Black people as expendable toys. The judicial system should not be treating this as an “oops, my fault” moment. These are innocent people's lives!
So this is what needs to be done:
First off, we need to keep all those whose lives were loss to police brutality relevant. Do not forget those names and those stories. That is exactly what they want us to do, They want us to forget, accept it and move on. We need to protect our Black males and females. Before it was primarily the Black men but now they are taking our young boys. We cannot continue to allow this happen. Keep voicing your opinion, teach the youth about what is going on in the society.
Secondly, we need to start to think and act smarter. Try not to put yourself in dangerous situations that can cost you your life. We need to start teaching the youth at younger ages how to interact with police. What to do and what not to do. This is unfortunate being as though it may seem like we are not safe in our own communities. But let’s face it, we aren't. It's been proven time and time again. With the unfortunate case of Tamir, Let's learn from this situation. Do not provide your children with fake guns or any fake weapon that can be mistaken as a real one. Better be safe than sorry.
Justice for Tamir….
