We won’t pretend to have all of the answers or even all of the information yet from the latest police shooting, this one in Fort Worth. But we will say this: The depth and the immediacy of the anger over the possibility that another African American resident has been tragically killed should not surprise anyone.
As a community, it is crucial that we avoid a rush to judgment about what happened over the weekend. What we do know is that a white Fort Worth police officer shot and killed an African American woman through the back window of a home where she was staying after a neighbor made a nonemergency call to ask the police to check on the residence.
As in all cases, the facts need to dictate the conclusions we reach. And in this case, there are a lot of key questions yet to be answered. Why was Atatiana Jefferson killed? Is there a reason the police entered the backyard rather than knock on the door? Why did the officer use deadly force? There was a gun found at the scene. Was it pointed at the officer? Did the officer fire when it was possible to de-escalate an incident that never had to turn deadly?
All of these questions are fair. But so is the anger surging in our community. Many black residents, in particular, feel an acute anger and frustration that we all need to hear and understand.
We have all seen more than enough as of late of unjustifiable uses of force. Jordan Edwards, an innocent 15-year-old boy, was shot through the head in the passenger seat of a car driving away from a party because Balch Springs police Officer Roy Oliver decided to shoot at a moving car. Botham Jean, an innocent 26-year-old accountant, died in his living room last year because Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger decided to resort to deadly force.
Both former officers have since been convicted of murder, and both victims represented the best of us when they were murdered.
These incidents and incidents that have happened in too many other communities across our country should leave us all with a deep sense of anger and frustration. All of us need to internalize what such killings do to us personally and to us as a community.
They rob us of innocent lives, and they destroy the bonds of civic trust that make possible policing, governing and solving common problems.
We are at a fragile moment, at a time when the Guyger trial has just concluded and when we are witnessing extremely divisive civic battles. Nonetheless, we have also shown a willingness in North Texas to pursue justice in cases where the use of deadly force was not warranted regardless of who was holding the gun.
If there is a path to rebuilding trust, it involves pursuing justice and reaching a point when we no longer must fear the tragic killings of members of our communities.
