US: murder of Jaylan Walker was indeed ‘routine’ police practice
The June 27 police murder of Jaylan Walker in Akron, Ohio proved yet again what many of us already knew: In the United States, even the most mundane encounter with the police can be deadly for you if you are Black.
The lawyer representing his family said Walker was shot “approximately 90 times”. Body-cam footage released by the police confirmed the count. An initial autopsy showed that the Black man had 60 gunshot wounds on his body at the time of his death.
Walker fled a “routine” traffic stop, authorities said in response. He would be alive today, and his encounter with the police would be truly “routine” if only he did not run.
Of course, these claims do not hold water – for several reasons.
First, there is no guarantee that Walker would be alive if he did not run. Sure, as a Black man, I also tell my son that he should “comply” if he is ever stopped by the police -even when there is no legitimate justification for the stop (as it was allegedly the case with Walker). But I know that compliance does not always save Black people from police brutality.
Second, despite what the police tried to imply, Walker’s encounter with the police was already pretty “routine” for America – indeed, “routine” traffic stops and other “routine” interactions between Black people and security forces routinely end with murder in this country. But why are Black people still being brutally killed under a hail of bullets for fleeing “routine” traffic stops some two years after the brutal police murder of George Floyd led to global protests demanding this deadly “routine” to come to an end?
The answer, sadly, is simple. Despite all the protests, this tragic routine is showing no signs of changing because by routinely intimidating, harassing and killing people of colour, the American police are doing what it was originally designed to do: Upholding white supremacy.
