Here We Go Again

It's always Groundhog Day with race in America...

Daunte Wright was killed by law enforcement in Brooklyn Center earlier this week on Sunday.

Although it is always a tragedy when these incidents happen, the timing could not have been worse. Chauvin is still on trial for murdering George Floyd. Think of this killing like being lost in the middle of nowhere and then getting a flat tire on top of that.

I don’t know the details, but I already know how this is going to play out.

Daunte was shot during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis. He drove for a short while before bleeding to death.

Sunday night and Monday morning, clashes erupted between protesters and Brooklyn Center police. Police used tear gas and other chemical agents to clear the crowds. There was looting in both Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center.

What Will Happen Next

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will look over body and dash cam footage.

Daunte’s life will come under close scrutiny.

People will call to defund the police; in particular, the same people who called for this previously will do so again. The results of when this was attempted in Minneapolis will be ignored.

People, in particular Trump supporters, will say that if Daunte had only obeyed orders and/or the law, he would still be alive. Never mind that this is far from the first or last time that a routine traffic stop turned out to be a death sentence for a young Black man for no justifiable reason or the fact that White men guilty of far more serious offenses are routinely taken in alive.

Regardless of which officer killed Daunte, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman will not press charges, further damaging the office of the Hennepin County Attorney.

There will be even more calls to defund the police—again ignoring what happened in Minneapolis—as a result of no charge being filed.

Then we wait for the police to murder the next Black man. The cycle will start again.

How to Get Out of the Groundhog Day Loop

The most essential step is also the hardest.

My fellow white Americans and Twin Cities residents need to understand that a Black person does not automatically equal a threat. That demonstrably false belief is what drives White calls to 911 over really stupid things, like a barbecue in a public park or bird watching. What will be tougher to stamp out is the idea that many of my fellow White Americans possess: they think they have a right to trample on Black people just because they see them as inherently lesser.

Why else do so many of them use the police to harass their fellow Americans who are Black, itch for an excuse to kill or hospitalize them, or go out of their way to make the shifts of Black people on the clock even harder than they already are?

Make necessary reforms to police departments across the country, and, if needed, purge them. The Minneapolis Police Department is Exhibit A for a department that needs to be purged and rebuilt.

If any of you have watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, think of White supremacists like Hydra. They are so deep inside the American law enforcement apparatus that the whole system may need to be replaced.

Keep in mind what word I choose to use: replaced.

If you are in the Twin Cities, stay safe.