AT American Renaissance, Jared Taylor has a commendable analysis of the Michael Slager shooting. He writes:

I give police the benefit of the doubt. They have one of the hardest jobs in America. They may have to make a split-second decision, at any moment, that could determine whether they live or die. Sometimes it’s kill or be killed, and you can’t expect them to get it right every time.

Michael Slager clearly got it wrong. There’s no evidence race had anything to do with it, but in today’s climate, race has everything to do with it. Mr. Slager is charged with murder, and if there’s a trial we’ll learn all there is to know about whether he’s a “racist.”

But that won’t matter. It will make no difference whether he spends his weekends burning crosses or teaching math to black children. A white cop killed an unarmed black, lied about it, and got caught only because someone videoed him. This is the perfect “I told you so” for all white-haters and cop-haters and for everyone who thinks white people are thwarting blacks at every turn.

[…]

This website has already been criticized simply for running the story of this shooting. Some readers will be outraged that we are not standing “in solidarity” with a “white brother.” Too bad. Michael Slager has shamed his profession. And in a time of anti-white hysteria he has, objectively, shamed his race. Even if race had nothing to do with it, he has exposed all police officers and all whites to criticism we can’t afford. Right or wrong, he will be seen as acting as a white man–as one of us–and he has let us down.

— Comments —

A reader writes:

Mr. Taylor writes:

This website has already been criticized simply for running the story of this shooting. Some readers will be outraged that we are not standing “in solidarity” with a “white brother.” Too bad. Michael Slager has shamed his profession. And in a time of anti-white hysteria he has, objectively, shamed his race. Even if race had nothing to do with it, he has exposed all police officers and all whites to criticism we can’t afford. Right or wrong, he will be seen as acting as a white man–as one of us–and he has let us down.

I would have to disagree. If the video shows that the felon refused to stop and fought with the cop that is enough for me. I am a child of the “Stop or I’ll shoot!” school of policing. It was around for over half my life. It has been a feature of Anglo Saxon common law for hundreds of years. Fleeing felons were automatically shootable. And a good thing, too, particularly if they assaulted a police officer. Nowadays, before shooting, and in accordance with Tennessee v. Garner a 1985 US Supreme Court case, the policemen is supposed to weigh the potential threat to the community and then shoot or not, based on his analysis. The result is that felons do not put their hands up and submit to the police, but take off running as though it is a big game, knowing (particularly if they are young and black) that they can get away with impunity. This is not a good thing.

But in any case, it is not an automatic crime to shoot a fleeing felon in the back, front, or wherever. Whether it is justified or not or not depends upon the policeman having probable cause that the felon posed a danger to the policeman or the public. I cannot, based upon the short, carefully edited video segments shown on TV, have any idea whether the policeman was justified in shooting. And I refuse to rush to judgment (as Mr. Taylor has). And I do so not out of “racial solidarity,” but out of respect for the law. What did the policeman hear? What did the felon say? Was there wrestling for a gun or taser?

It may be that we wish to ban everyone from shooting fleeing felons. But currently that is not the law. And therefore, as in the Trayvon case and the Ferguson case, I withhold any judgment until more facts are available. I refuse to blame my race, my profession, my sex, my church, my religion for what other members do. And I refuse to share in the shame of others’ actions. Let Mr. Taylor be angry with Mr. Slager about the blood-guilt that blacks or lefties, or women will bestow upon him for the actions of Mr. Slager. I shall not accept their bloodguilt, feel culpable and blame someone else for feeling guilty.

Laura writes:

Slager has not “shamed his race,” whatever he has done. It may be viewed as collective guilt, but it’s not.

As for shooting fleeing felons, there does seem to be a purpose to that provision. If those arrested could just run away, how could the police maintain order?

It seems wrong in this case, but I agree that we need to know more.

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