A Black Cop Has Confronted Her Racist Colleagues Over The Latest Spate Of Police Killings
"How dare you stand next to me in the same uniform and murder somebody?"
Over the last few days, two more black men in the United States have been shot and killed by police, despite presenting no threat. On Tuesday, 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot multiple times and killed by two police officers outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Footage of the shooting was captured by Abdullah Muflahi, the store’s owner, and has since gone viral, triggering protests across the state and country.
Yesterday, 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed in front of his partner and four-year-old daughter by a police officer in St Paul, Minnesota. Video taken by Castile’s partner, Lavish Reynolds, showed the aftermath of the shooting, which took place after Castile informed the officer he had a licensed firearm in his glove compartment and was reaching for his wallet at the officer’s request.
The killings have sparked yet another round of protest, high-profile condemnation from politicians, activists and celebrities, and demands for action against racially motivated police violence. Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the killing show “something is profoundly wrong”, and that “so many Americans have reason to believe that our country doesn’t consider them as precious as others because of the color of their skin.”
In a statement posted on her website, Beyonce demanded an end to “the war on people of color and all minorities”, and urged people to “contact the politicians and legislators in our districts and demand social and judicial changes”.
Drake, meanwhile, posted a statement on Instagram saying that “it’s impossible to ignore that the relationship between black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago”, and that he feels “concerned for the safety of my family and friends”.
Amidst all this, the word of a black police officer is proving to be among the most powerful. Nakia Jones, an officer with Ohio’s Warrensville Police Department, posted a video on Facebook yesterday decrying her racist fellow officers, and demanding that prejudiced officers “take the uniform off and put the KKK hoodie on”.
“If you are white and you’re working in a black community and you are racist, you need to be ashamed of yourself” Jones said. “You stood up there and took an oath. If this is not where you want to work, then you need to take your behind somewhere else.”
“If you’re that officer who works in a black community, you’re afraid of people that don’t look like you, you have no business in that uniform. Take it off. There’s many of us that would give our life for anybody, and we took this oath and we meant it.”
“How dare you stand next to me in the same uniform and murder somebody?”