On Sunday, August 23, 2020, the Kenosha Police in Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while his children watched. We are well past shock and surprise at hearing news of the shooting of unarmed civilians by law enforcement. The real shock is that these extrajudicial shootings are becoming commonplace. We brace for it. We expect it. We cry out in collective anguish and demand accountability. Accountability that all too often never comes.
Pennsylvania State Representative Summer Lee informed us during their Virtual Panel on Police Reform on Wednesday, September 2nd, that it is technically legal for a police officer to shoot a suspect in the back. Commonly known as the Fleeing Felon Rule, Tennessee v. Garner (1985) and Graham v. Connor (1989) found that the police can use deadly force to stop a fleeing suspect if the suspect has been charged with a prior violent felony. Literally a citizen’s past can come back to haunt him even if he has paid his debt to society.
The ease of capturing videos via smartphones has awakened many to what Black people have been saying for generations. Unfortunately, the prevalence of these videos can have the unintended effect of normalizing violence against Black bodies. We cannot allow that to happen. We must not allow the unimaginable pain of mothers, fathers, and children to become normalized. Black lives matter. Black families matter. Black futures matter. We stand in solidarity with Jacob Blake and his family as he continues to recover. Let us all continue to strive for a future when all of us are truly free.
Sources
- Morales, Christina, “What We Know About the Shooting of Jacob Blake” (Sept. 10, 2020). The New York Times.
- Blume, John H., “Deadly Force in Memphis: Tennessee v. Garner” (1984). Cornell Law Faculty Publications.
- Rehnquist, William H, and Supreme Court Of The United States. “U.S. Reports: Graham v. Connor et al., 490 U.S. 386.” (1988). Library of Congress.
- White, Byron Raymond, and Supreme Court Of The United States. “U.S. Reports: Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1.” (1984). Library of Congress.
