Grew up in Baton Rouge, live in New Orleans. Graduated with one of the cops in the BR shooting. In the thick of the current shit storm. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it all.
For one, I'm not gonna call the guy (either the BR cop or the Minnesota cop) a chickenshit, at least not based on either video. Did either Alton or Philando deserve to get killed like they did? No, of course not. We don't know yet exactly what led up to where the video starts. I'm going to focus on the BR story, because I'm more familiar with it. But what we've heard so far is that the officers were responding to a call that a man matching Alton's description threatened someone with a gun. So when they arrive on the scene and see him, their first concern has to be making sure that they don't get fucking shot. Alton knew that if he was caught with a gun on him, he was going to jail. So of course he's going to be scared and resist when the police approach him. Is that reason enough to kill him? No.
But just about a week before, a local sheriff's deputy was killed while patting down a suspicious person. Kind of a shitty article, but the facts are in line:
I knew this deputy. He worked details almost every weekend at the event center where I work. He was a good guy and a good cop. Had a great eye for things and could spot a problem situation before it really went to shit. The fact that he could get killed so quickly in such a "routine" situation is pretty scary. And the kid shot him because he didn't want to go to jail for the gun that he was illegally carrying. Stupid fucking logic, but when people are afraid for their lives, they often do stupid shit.
So I don't know where I stand on all of it. Mostly in the middle, I guess. I think the BLM movement deserves to be heard. It's sad that a large portion of our population would feel like their lives don't matter as much. But I also don't think that most cops go out on patrol hoping to kill or fuck people over. Ultimately, I think the problem is more in how we value and respect all human life. People shouldn't kill people. Period. End of discussion. Heaven forbid I say this, but maybe it's also a gun problem? Whatever it is, the solution is not simple. I hope that the protests remain (relatively) peaceful, and that some positive change comes from it.
End of rant.