When black men fail their children - Part 2, NO CHARGES FILED AGAINST OFFICERS!!!

Happy Friday ONLY because it's Friday and no other reason related to this post.

I previously posted about Charles Rawlings, a pillar of righteousness in the Northeastern DC community, who father 16 children - that he HASN'T been able to take care of! The reason for the post was in response to Mr. Rawlings demand for 100 million dollars in a lawsuit for the killing of his 14 year old son Deonte Rawlings. Wait I misspelled it... It's D - e -apostrophe - Capital O-nte with an accent at the end for creative flair. Now, I'm not going to make light of this tragic situation anymore than I already have. A 14 year old boy was killed by a DC police officer because he had two stupid folks for parents.

I am extremely disappointed that the officers involved were cleared of all charges on yesterday by the US Attorney's office. My chagrin with these types of cases is that the officers are charged, placed on administrative leave with pay, and are typically cleared. They are never chastised, seldom express regret, and are often viewed as heroes by people who enjoy seeing unarmed black and brown men killed. Deadly force is the normal SOP for any incident with black men ... at least it appears that way. How can ANY sane person believe that the police are tasked with protecting and serving when it is so clear that they are dually tasked with meting out deadly "justice"?

Mayor Fenty for his part, has implicitly claimed culpability by paying for the boy's funeral and releasing the names of the officer's involved before having all of the facts in this case. What's even worse is even AFTER the FBI, US Atty's Office, and DC conducted separate investigations the results are the same. Witnesses ID'd the boy with a gun, shot recording technology recorded shots coming from a gun used by the boy, the boy stole a bike, they boy was on his way to becoming a criminal like his older siblings. It's horrible, but true. Did he deserve to die though? DC has no "self-defense" law, but the officers were able to employ one as their defense to the Federal charges. Did a 14 year old deserve to die? His parents were and are jail birds, drug abusers, and some of the most trifling people you'd ever meet. Did DeOnte deserve to die?

NO! Hell NO!!! He did not. I don't care how wretched this little boy was, unless he himself killed someone (and even then I'd have to weigh everything carefully), he did not deserve to die.

The officers have yet to express ANY regret and that bothers me. Black men are NOT safe if law enforcement has the right to use deadly and excessive force not matter what the cause.

To the family of DeOnte, I WON'T reverse my position from before because it was THE TRUTH; YOU BEAR SOME OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOW THIS BOY ENDED UP.

However, he did not deserve to die and for your your loss, you have my sympathy.