March 22, 2018

A man named Stephon Clark is murdered in his grandparents’ backyard by the Sacramento police, who said they thought the cell phone he carried in his hand was a gun. He was shot twenty times. They were looking for a suspect who had been breaking car windows. The first question is, why have guns drawn for that? Why bring out the full firepower of the battalion for a vandal? The second question is, is it cowardice or malice that compels the police to be so murderous? At least I am living in a time when police murders, especially of black men, do not go unnoticed, though too often still they go unpunished. I feel that if a cop kills an unarmed person, he must be tied for murder. Not excuses. Cowardice and bloodthirstiness are not extenuating circumstances.

Good writing at the High Five, where I sat across from a UNCA Environmental Studies student named Whisper. She was taking notes from a text covered with pictures of echinoderms.