Milwaukee Mayor Whitesplains After Unarmed Black Man is Shot by Police

Brandon Moore and Jerry Smith, Jr. were both arrested by the Milwaukee Police. One was unarmed and shot three times while the other was armed with an AR-15 rifle and fired up to 15 shots and was left unscathed.


Moore is white. Smith is Black. A time period of 15 months separate the two incidences and one block separating the scenes where each offense took place. There’s really no surprise that Smith was shot even though he was found to not have a weapon. The seemingly endless list of unarmed Blacks being shot by police is easily verifiable with a simple Google search.

However, what is alarming is that Moore actually had a standoff with the Milwaukee police department after firing his gun on Election Day last November from the rooftop of his apartment building. He had even threatened to “air out” and “light up” various polling locations around the city.

That information was found when a search warrant for his residence was issued. He was finally subdued after a short scuffle but was not shot. Moore also had a criminal record which consisted of minor traffic violations, possession of marijuana, and carrying a concealed weapon.

Smith, on the other hand, had never been in trouble nor used drugs, and is now using a wheelchair to get around due to a bullet still being lodged in his hip and only partial use of his right leg. He was also shown putting his hands up and not being aggressive.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett declined to comment on the first shooting pending Smith’s case, which is now being litigated. But he did advise against comparing the two drastically obvious different outcomes for the sake of unfair to the officers involved.

“Comparing two separate incidents is inevitably problematic because circumstances police officers face and observations they make are different in every situation,” he said.

Something here just doesn’t add up. It’s a well-known fact that if an officer “feels or believes his life is in imminent danger,” deadly force (typically with a gun) can be used to quash the “threat.” Although statistics dictate that officers “rarely” use their guns in most situations. it appears that Black men make officers feel their lives are at risk. Even when said Black men are running away or they have their hands up.

So how is it that Moore walks away without a scratch, nor a hair out of place, from an actual dangerous situation with officers knowing they were walking into a situation where the suspect had been firing his weapon and being aggressive

Milwaukee has a 40 percent Black population, but Black police officers only make up 18 percent of all officers on the force. 83 percent of the police force is male though.

Mayor Tom Barrett is clearly delusional.

How can one surmise that it isn’t problematic when a Black unarmed teen is shot multiple times versus a gun-popping white man just ends up wearing “silver bracelets” after a scuffle

Related

Trending Now

Follow us

Most Popular

Join Our Newsletter

Get the top workplace fairness news delivered straight to your inbox