I would say Trevor Noah was on fire last night talking about the police killing of Emantic Bradford, Jr., but that doesn't quite get the mood right. He wasn't raging. Perhaps smoldering was more accurate, or even keeping it at a low boil. And who can blame him?
Police killed Bradford during a chaotic mall crime scene because they saw a Black man with a gun and assumed he was the one they were after. But as Noah pointed out, LOTS of people had their guns drawn. This was ALABAMA. Why was the Black man with the gun the only one the police saw fit to kill? No need to answer. We all know why.
According to Michael Harriot of The Root,
Late Thursday evening, police officers from the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Hoover responded to reports of shots being fired in the Riverchase Galleria Mall. News reports painted a chaotic scene with multiple injuries. Photos and videos of the injured and dead victims circulated on social media.
In the aftermath, the Hoover Police Department issued a statement and held a press conference telling a simple story: Two young men began fighting inside the mall. One man drew a gun and shot an 18-year-old man twice. He also shot a 12-year-old. As the gunman fled, cops saw him, he “brandished” a pistol and the police shot the suspect dead. The end.
Harriot and Noah both point out that somehow, miraculously, white suspects don't seem to stop police bullets with their faces or other parts of their bodies required for life. Those white suspects — armed, dangerous, already guilty of brutal murder — only seem to die of self-inflicted wounds. Police manage to apprehend them alive. Why, then, do Black suspects (and again - WHY WAS BRADFORD EVEN A SUSPECT?) end up lifeless?
Because there is no such thing as a "Good BLACK Man With A Gun" in America. Even if you serve in the armed forces. Even if you're innocent. Even if you're doing your job. In the eyes of White America, you are a danger to be neutralized. Too harsh? I'll be over here waiting to see if that cop is fired or charged with manslaughter.
In the meantime, if you're Black and you want to buy and carry a gun, I'd recommend doing what Trevor Noah says. Bring along a white guy named "Craig" at all times to hold it.
