Why she was shot
Why was Atatiana Jefferson shot
in her own home by a police officer on a “wellness check” for an open door
while playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew? This is not understandable by any law
enforcement protocol. Atatiana had led a peaceful life with a loving family. A
college graduate, she had majored in biology and was working for a
pharmaceutical company, living at the family home to take care of her ailing
mother and dote on her sister’s son.
It was because Officer Aaron Dean was not simply responding to a wellness call. The
house was quiet and the door was open. He was out hunting.
As
ABC News reported, “So far this year, there have been nine officer-involved
shootings with six of them turning fatal, according to Fort Worth Police. All
six of those occurred after June 1, including the shooting of Jefferson. All
but two of those people involved in police shootings were either Black or
Latino.
“In
2018, there were 10 police-involved shootings, half of which involved people of
color and four that were fatal, police said.”
Rather than driving in front of the house as he would be
expected to do on a wellness call, he and his fellow officers parked around the
corner and crept up on the property, so as to not startle their game.
What others would think was a working-class neighborhood,
the officer saw something akin to a jungle, homes of Black and Brown people where
he was to be wary, have his weapon drawn ready to shoot to kill.
This is the legacy of the disease of racism that has
infected this nation from slavery until now.
From the lynchings to the police killings, time and time again, we see a
mental illness that has not been fully owned-up, nor thought out on how to
cure.
This is something that white folks have to solve. Black
people can’t do it. We’ve marched, demonstrated, sat-in, sang, begged for help
and demanded justice, time and time again. It’s been hard work.
We have been prodding the country into a more civilized
state of consciousness since its founding. Forcing it to live up to words of
equality that were, at that time, meant only for white, landowning men and
making it true for Black, Hispanic, women and all people.
We have found that there can be laws passed, but you cannot
legislate goodwill or even sanity.
The rapid response of the Fort Worth Police Chief to charge
Aaron Dean was the first step. Now
the department has to come under the control of an outside force in order to
fire the incorrigibles and retrain the rest.
Atatiana’s sister had
said that any neighbor, family or community would be proud to count her as one
of their own. That she left the world so early speaks to a legacy centuries-old,
and her loss is another marker of the work that has to be done on this struggle
to rip the threads of racism from the fabric of the nation.
