IT IS GETTING TO BE WHERE COPS MUST LET A BLACK MAN GET OFF THE FIRST SHOT BEFORE THEY CAN SHHOT AT HIM

Angry protests erupt in Minneapolis after cops shoot armed black man

A week ago cops in East Pittsburgh shot an unarmed black youth who had been involved in a drive by shooting 13 minutes earlier. The death of Antwon Rose sparked outrage in the black community and has led to mass protests. And now protests have broken out in Minneapolis over the police shooting of an armed black man.

On Saturday night, Minneapolis cops responded to a report of a man firing a gun into the air and into the ground. Officers spotted the man, and as they got out of their squad car, he fled on foot carrying a handgun. After a foot chase of several blocks the two cops fired at 31-year-old Thurman J. Blevins, 31, a black man. The handgun was found next to his body.

Once again the black community erupted into outrage with angry street protests in Minneapolis. The fact that Blevins was armed made no difference.

California State Senator Steven Bradford accuses the police of shooting blacks as a form of oppression. He says:

“It always blows me away when law enforcement fear for their life, only when they're facing black and brown people. We don't have a problem with law enforcement, we got a problem with racism in this country.”

“The use of deadly force was only enacted in this country after slavery as another way of suppressing black people in this country. And that mindset has not changed to this day.”

So in order to deal with his perceived racism of cops, Bradford has introduced a bill that is working its way through the California legislature which if passed and signed by the governor would severely restrict the use of deadly force by that state’s law enforcement officers. It raises California's standard for use of deadly force by changing wording in existing law, removing “reasonable force” and changing it to “necessary force.” That will only allow officers to use deadly force if they had no other option.

That’s almost like saying officers would be justified in shooting at someone only after that person got off the first shot at them.

The proposed California bill notwithstanding, with the protests erupting almost every time cops shoot a black man, it’s getting to be where they must let that man get off the first shot before they can shoot at him.

College criminal justice graduates, welcome to today’s world of more dangerous policing.