First, a note: I am so overwhelmed these days. So many things are happening that I feel I need to speak out against, about, and I have so little time or energy to do so. Or I get so overwhelmed with emotion it is like a tar pit for my brain- I get stuck inside it and then it takes so much energy to get out that I can’t write about it at the time, and all the time more things are happening. And I am sick and exhausted. So please don’t think what I post these days is all I care about or all I have to say. It’s just what I can say right now in the midst of it all.
So… I just started listening to They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery, and this happens.
Here is the “incident” (ie, the murder) this post is about:
(this post is about all police shootings in the U.S.A. but this is the story of Francisco Serna)
73-year-old man in the early stages of dementia was killed by a Bakersfield police officer after a neighbor called 911 and erroneously reported the man was carrying a revolver, authorities said Tuesday.
The officer fired seven rounds toward Francisco Serna, who died just feet from his home.
But when police searched Serna for a gun, they found only a dark, faux wood crucifix.
“My dad did not own a gun. He was a 73-year-old retired grandpa, just living life,” Serna’s son, Rogelio Serna, said. “He should have been surrounded by family at old age, not surrounded by bullets.”
people, you are so afraid of a 73 year old man that you call the police? that you imagine him armed and dangerous as a matter of course? did he actively threaten your life with a gun? no he did not. why do you assume him to be an enemy when he’s a neighbor and a grandfather? why?!?
and police people, so what if he did have a gun? did he actively *actually* threaten your life? no he did not.
what reason *WHAT REASON* do you have to shoot him repeatedly? to shoot him to death? even if he pulled out a gun and threatened you, which again he DID NOT, you did not have to riddle him with bullets. whatever happened to shooting someone once in the leg to take them down without killing them?
why are the police so afraid of an old confused man that they start firing and are unable to stop?
why are people so afraid of their neighbors that they call the police in to kill them?
people, stop listening to hateful bullshit! maybe then you won’t be so damned afraid of people who are just like you. and we won’t have REAL REASON to be afraid of you either.
a coherent heart 