Last Tuesday, law enforcement officers from the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in a parking lot while trying to serve an arrest warrant for another person in a nearby apartment complex. In the days since, this incident has been incorporated into a broader discussion on the policing of minority communities and sparked nationwide protests, one of which occurred last Friday in front of Old Cabell Hall. Despite the case’s public profile, at the time of this writing, many of the circumstances leading up to the shooting remain unclear. With this in mind, one should refrain from making judgments concerning the legality of the shooting until more information comes to light.
A video released by the victim’s family shows Rakeyia Scott, the victim’s wife, saying, “Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon” as officers surround Scott’s car. She can also be heard reminding the officers that Scott suffered from a traumatic brain injury. Following the shooting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department stated that Brentley Vinson, an African-American officer, shot Scott after he made a threatening move with a gun. Police later released photos of a pistol and ankle holster recovered at the scene, in addition to dashcam and body-camera footage of the shooting, though neither clearly shows whether Scott was reaching for a weapon. It is worth noting that six officer-involved shootings have occurred in Charlotte this year, of which four of the victims were black.
In the days since the incident, many have questioned whether the police had unlawfully killed Scott. Al Sharpton suggested Scott’s race may have influenced how officers had treated him, arguing “Many black officers know that they can get away with doing... to black suspects what they would never do in another community.” In an interview with Complex magazine, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza also suggested the police had acted unlawfully, stating “I think we know what it looks like when somebody is murdered,” though she admitted she had chosen not to watch footage of the shooting.
In regard to the latter comment, Garza’s insistence on ruling Scott’s death a murder, despite acknowledging she had not watched footage of the shooting, substantiates claims that Black Lives Matter is inherently biased against law enforcement. Furthermore, such an action tarnishes the movement’s credibility and undermines its ability to act as a vehicle for change.
On the other side of the aisle, several commentators have questioned whether racial biases are at all present in police interactions with racial minorities. Perhaps this view is best articulated by National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, who dismisses the claim African-Americans are more likely to be killed by police as “wholly manufactured” and states “police are having lethal interactions not with the nation’s total population but with its criminal population.” While one can certainly argue racial biases are not present in every police encounter with a minority, the shootings of John Crawford III, Tamir Rice and Philando Castile suggest racial biases in policing are more common than one might expect.
Perhaps the biggest impediment to reforming our justice system is the rigid dichotomy that has arisen as a result of recent racial tensions. On one hand, there are those who outright refuse to acknowledge that racial minorities may be at a greater risk of falling victim to a violent encounter with law enforcement officers and dismiss public demonstrations as manifestations of anti-police sentiment. At the same time, there are some activists who become so emotionally invested in their cause that they embrace over-simplistic narratives that support their preconceived beliefs and eschew facts that would contradict these views.
Such a case was clearly evident in the public’s reaction to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri. Shortly after the Justice Department published a report summarizing its investigation of the shooting of Michael Brown, many conservative commentators were quick to point out that the agency dismissed accounts alleging Brown had uttered the phrase “hands up, don’t shoot,” prior to being shot by Officer Darren Wilson. However, many of these same individuals disregarded another DOJ report stating the Ferguson Police Department had routinely violated many minority residents’ rights to due process. Similarly, some social activists continue to reference the same event without acknowledging evidence indicating that Wilson had a legitimate reason to discharge his firearm.
Regardless of the outcome of the situation in Charlotte, it is clear current policing practices often fail to de-escalate tense situations and protect persons of color. Collective action is needed to address these problems; however, a solution will never materialize unless we are willing to approach these issues from an open-minded perspective and re-examine our own views on race and policing.
Brandon Brooks is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at b.brooks@cavalierdaily.com.
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