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Response to Dallas police officer killing Botham Jean

    In class, there were multiple stories people had heard to as to how a white police officer allegedly accidentally walked into an apartment not her own, saw a black man and shot him dead. The first story was that Amber Guyger, 4 year member of the Dallas police force, simply parked on the wrong floor after her shift, walked into the wrong apartment thinking it was hers, suspected Mr. Jean was a burglar, and shot him. This is the story most people know, the story that news organizations are telling. Another scenario being that Guyer and Jean were formerly in a relationship and the police officer was looking for revenge. This story is the less popular and most unlikely one. Before it was said in class, I hadn't heard anything about the two knowing each other prior to the shooting. Additionally, what is the likelihood that you and your ex live in the same building, you cant recognize their living space, and their family knew nothing of you? Somebody also heard that the police officer had her hands full of grocery's so she couldn't see that she was entering an apartment with a doormat not her own. But when she walked in, couldn't she see that all of the furniture and items in the apartment weren't hers? How would she be carrying groceries, open the door and be able to shoot somebody all at once? All of the scenarios have flaws that leave many questioning.
     In my opinion, the killing of Botham Jean was due to unfair bias by Amber Guygen. There was no logical reason for the police officer to pull her gun out in the first place. If she did enter the apartment thinking it was her own, most would immediately realize by the surroundings that it isn't theirs, apologize for the intrusion, and leave. Instead, she, the intruder, pulled a gun out on the alarmed and unarmed Botham Jean. Imagine how scary that would be, to have done nothing wrong yet randomly have a police officer walk into your home with no warning and pull out a gun. It is true, the different floors of the apartment complex may have looked very similar so that after a long day, going to the wrong floor is not an absurd concept. The police officer may have been so alarmed that there was somebody in "her" apartment she didn't even pay attention to the apartment interior to realize the furnishings weren't hers, but there is absolutely no excuse for pulling out a gun. Not even the fact that she was a police officer. Especially the fact that she was a police officer because that means she is trained to expect the unexpected. It seems like we never hear of stories like this with whites as the victims. It seems as if Amber Guyger assumed Botham Jean was doing something wrong for no reason other than that he was black and she couldn't pause in the moment to question the ingrained filter that because he was black, he must be doing something wrong. Regardless of how you choose to picture it, Botham Jean, a black man, was murdered while doing nothing but simply living his life, and that happens all too often.
   



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