"...grieve"

A 13 year old boy was shot dead by police in Chicago. I grieve for the boy, and the cop. They were trapped by history. The boy in a community lost in low intensity warfare. The Policeman by current American police culture. The boy was not armed when shot. However he was earlier, but threw away a pistol when chased.

He did as ordered stopped put his hands up, and then as so many others was shot anyway. Once again a split-second decision was made. Once again a tragically wrong one. There's a difference between being a cop, and soldier. In our wounded country you have to be both...so are doing both badly. Police culture has not evolved with the terrible complexities of our times.

Some have commented the boy got what he deserved no matter his age armed or not. Divided by race class, and culture as we are. This will just pile on to all the other deaths. 'And this was death. A kid's death.

The video is as graphic as war footage so beware if you watch. It will stay with you.

The Police body cam in full. ...the fatal chase begins at 2 minutes into the footage.

Log # 2021-1112 BWC 1 on Vimeo

A mainstream edited version below.

Mainstream media has cut the footage up, and censored it as it does with all violent racial or class incidents. I am not removing this post it stays. I wasn’t going to post any images of the boy. 'But I do this because some platforms are posting an image of a man in his 20’s as the victim. 

Fox, and other conservative pro-police platforms are mostly only showing images of the gun dropped before the shooting. Also as I say some of them are showing images of a man in his 20's as the shooting victim. I will try to be unbiased, and say they may have been mistaken in the first hours of the incident. However their actions had it's effect. Rightwing sites are already saying he was a man, and the images of the boy a false flag set up by the liberal media.

As I say I grieve for both the boy, and the cop because I saw both through it all.

These were human beings both. Nothing will change till we change. He was a 13 year old kid. Remember when you were 13? Here above as he was in life, and at the moment of his death. Let him rest in peace, and not as another item of fought over conspiracies.

I wish I could just walk away from all these incidents. Walk from them in bewildered sorrow. 'But I can't. We can't. As long as these keep happening we're all of us are in our ways complicit.