Skip to main content

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.
   



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response to Betsy DeVos allegedly looking into giving teachers firearms.

     Until it appeared on our first current events quiz, I was unaware that the possibility of arming teachers with guns was truly being looked into. Although it is still just being researched and not actually happening right now, Mr. Miller believes it eventually will, even though the concept is very flawed. He explained that as a teacher he would not be comfortable in possession of a gun nor having students in close proximity to them. The class discussed the possible issues with having guns in schools; a misfiring, a student taking one for his or her own use, poor personal judgement for when it is appropriate to use, the list goes on. I believe this class discussion was crucial to have. Every student should be aware of something that has the potential to effect us so dramatically. We also should have the space to freely discuss how we feel about it. The discussion we had was brought to our class in the right proportion and gave all of us the base information we need but...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Class Topic: Magazines

In between newspapers and television, magazines definitely had their glory days, which I never knew. Magazines introduced multiple concepts we had never had, that we still use today. For example, a national medium to share news. In my opinion, the most valuable thing we got from magazines was the ability to spread American culture nationwide. People were new and just getting the feel for things and establishing rules for how things would run, they needed to be able to communicate and send widespread messages. The first magazine was invented not too long before America was established so they must've played in a big role. People lived in different parts of the new land and wouldn't know what was going on or what things were being sold in different areas if it weren't for magazines. I don't know exactly how, but I believe things back then wouldn't have been the same without magazines, therefore making today somewhat different.
Post a Comment
Read more

Response to the 10 Elements of Good Journalism

     To say the least, I loved listening to this lecture. To open the year talking about something so basic yet so important oriented me to the class. Hearing what such highly trained, long standing journalists think are the most important elements of journalism was so interesting because my love for writing urges me to want to know these standards so I can both use them as guidelines for myself as well as be a good critic of others. During our class discussion, the element of making the important interesting felt the most familiar. I believe this is because when writing, I always strive to capture interest and I know what it feels like to read a book or article you never want to put down. The common goal through my writing in to educate, however, reading something that just spits facts at you can be boring and feel like a burden rather than a thought provoking lesson. Personally, writing poetry particularly has taught me how to articulate my words in a way that is grabbi...
Post a Comment
Read more