Last Saturday, an 11-year old boy from Indianola, Mississippi called police for help in resolving a domestic dispute. Instead, police shot 11-year old boy was in the chest.
While the child who has been identified as Aderrien Murry will survive and is out of hospital, he has sustained a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver. Aside from what is likely a long physical recovery, there will be emotional scars that will likely never heal. Murry asked, "Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?" He will probably ask these questions for as long as he lives.
Let's keep in mind this child thought the police could make things better. Do you think this child will ever trust the police again? If police are prepared to wantonly shoot an 11-year old African-American child for seeking help, then it is more than understandable why many in the African-American community want as little to do with the police as possible. The alienation will dig deeper should the D.A. in Sunflower County sees fit not to charge the officer with a crime notwithstanding whatever civil remedies the Murry family might attain down the line. No amount of compensation can make up for a loss of trust and an unwillingness to bring wrongdoers to justice because they wear a police uniform.
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