Jemel Roberson, a Black hero shot dead by police, was laid to rest last weekend as was Emantic Bradford Jr., an innocent Black 21-year-old male mistakenly identified as a mass shooter in an Alabama mall and also shot dead by police.
“How does this shit keep happening” Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,” asked after discussing the incident.
“The cops are called into a situation. They see a Black person. And then immediately they shoot.”
“When white male mass shooters do die,” he added, “it’s most often because they shoot themselves.”
When it’s a Black man, he said the process is too often “shoot now, ask questions later.”
“If you’re a Black person in America, gun rights are not for you. It’s as simple as that,” Noah concluded. “It’s some bulls**t, but it’s true. The Second Amendment was not made for Black folks.”
Police in Alabama can’t get their stories straight about Bradford, just like they can’t get it straight about Roberson.
In 2017, the state of Alabama had a lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita ($36,796) than the U.S. average ($53,128.54); and a lower GDP growth rate (1.3 percent) than the U.S. average (2.3 percent).
First, authorities criminalized Bradford and put that out to the media. Then, they retracted their claim several times saying he wasn’t the criminal, but brandished a gun, and then that he didn’t brandish it but had one.
They didn’t call the family until four days after Bradford’s death and they still insisted at that point that Bradford brandished a gun:
“We extend sympathy to the family of Emantic J. Bradford of Hueytown, who was shot and killed during Hoover Police efforts to secure the scene in the seconds following the original altercation and shooting,” a joint statement from the city and police department said.
“We can say with certainty Mr. Bradford brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots, which instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers responding to the chaotic scene.”
Bradford was actually trying to help people to safety when he was shot, said his family’s attorney, Ben Crump.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is investigating and there is the officer’s body cam footage of the incident that has not been released. Mayor Frank Brocato asked for the public to be patient.
“Show us the video. Your words mean nothing to them,” Crump said Monday.
“(The officer) saw a Black man with a gun and he made his determination that he must be a criminal.”
After the church vigil on Tuesday to mourn, protesters with a bullhorn marched through Brocato’s neighborhood, chanting: “If we don’t get no justice, you don’t get no sleep.” It wasn’t clear whether Brocato was at home.
