Hours after family members, friends, and others mourned the death of a beloved man, Botham Shem Jean, a warrant and a video were simultaneously released to the public. These releases are calculated and intentional. The media attempts to paint a particular picture that is meant to criminalize the killed and restore the killer.
As for the search warrant, it is the most detailed to date but it is a search warrant of the victim’s home—not the killer’s home. The warrant details what was found in his apartment: a lunch box, two bullet casings, a police backpack, a laptop computer, a metal marijuana grinder, two radio frequency identification keys, two used packages of medical aid, a police vest, and 10.4 grams of marijuana.
The warrant is intended to evoke a response from the reader: “Oh, the marijuana must be Botham’s?”; “Maybe the killing was justified?”; “Maybe he is a criminal?”; “Maybe I shouldn’t defend his death?”; “Maybe this is why he didn’t want an officer in his home?” The warrant is intended to create speculation in order to criminalize Botham.
There are also police items included in that list. We do not know whom the marijuana and grinder belong to. We don’t know for a fact all of what belongs to who yet. But, implicit (and explicit) racial bias immediately places the marijuana and grinder as Botham’s.
Even if marijuana was in Botham’s home, it is completely irrelevant in the case where Botham is killed by a police officer who trespassed into his home. Lee Merritt, Botham’s family attorney, said after the funeral, that this warrant is intended to “tarnish the image of this young man.” This is a recurrence when black and brown people are killed. After their death, the police or authorities provide evidence that creates the perception that their death was justifiable and conclude that the victim seemed to “deserve to die.”
The other release is footage of Officer Amber Guyger being checked into a Kaufman County jail. In this video, she sits down to be booked and seems to cry or wipe away tears. What isn’t in question is why she may be crying. The question is why is this video released for the public to see, but the videos of other criminals being booked are not? Why don’t police release “cry tapes” of other criminals in order to rouse sympathy in the hearts of the public after arrest?
This is a classic smear campaign against the victim by authorities. These two public releases are being used to sway the public from caring about Botham, his family, his friends and instead create suspicion around a young man that has been celebrated by those who knew him best. They are intended to deflect the anger that has been justifiably directed against the officer and the department, and instead create compassion for them.
Media is a powerful tool that has been used time and time again to criminalize people of color. When they demand justice, media releases are often used to perpetuate racial oppression. There is only one victim in this case and it is Botham Shem Jean. There is only one suspect in this case and that is Amber Guyger.
0 comment
You’re reading an awful lot into this – and for obvious reasons.
Take away the fact that she was an off-duty police officer. Take away the fact that he was black and she is white. Take away the fact that the victim was a man and the perpetrator a woman.
What are you left with? Simple: A woman accidentally entered the wrong apartment, shot and killed a man, and is now charged with manslaughter. And unless some bizarre plot-twist is exposed, she’ll spend many years in prison.
But by all means, read your agenda into literally every situation.
If she get long jail time I will be surprised….or maybe they will put her in jail and in a few years…she will get out….
The system was never made for people of color….in this country………
In my city we recently had a black gang member, with a long history of violent crimes (for which he always got short sentences), shoot and almost kill a cop. Once again, he’s going to get off with a very light sentence. This time it’s because he had been drinking, and the defense claims he didn’t really know what he was doing.
So tell me Angela, how does a black man, with a long history of violent crimes, keep getting let out of prison – only to commit more crimes? Is THAT racism too?
If that’s all there is to it, then why did the police release the warrant and the findings to the public? Also, no one is “reading an agenda.” We are responding to a pattern of police conduct whereby in shootings like this, they use the media to advance a narrative that is favorable to their officers.
No Jelani, you have an agenda. You want to prove that there is racism behind every single encounter between police and a black person. Fortunately, you have to ignore a whole lot of facts to continue believing that.
Everything in life is not about race or racism.
this officer didn’t enter the victim’s home by accident. and this is the first i heard that there was ‘pot’ found in his home. she didn’t go into his home ‘by accident’. his home was was very well adorned on the outside. plus they were on different floors. as they were directly above each other, may play into ‘a premeditated hate crime’. i wonder if the family attorney looked into that possibility. and why was she banging on his door telling him to open the door? and apparently he was not afraid because he must have opened the door. and her story is all full of lies, from the start. just think if ‘she’ had ended up dead by him. and let’s also keep in mind the the black cop that shot and killed the white lady from Australia cause she made a false call, he has been charged with……………you guessed it MURDER. so one can not tell me that ‘race’ has nothing to do with it.
this system in this country was not made to be ‘fair’. not to favor one against another. but let’s keep in mind, that’s (america). the most HYPOCRITICAL country in the world. and this county has always attached GOD’S NAME to all the evil things it does. as GOD is in control of all things, just because HE allows things to happen, doesn’t by no means condones the actions. this country is under (Divine judgment) make no mistake about it. THE TRUE GOD&SAVIOR OF THE BIBLE said HE WILL NOT BE MOCKED. and HE wont. GOD (hates) hypocrisy from any race.
Ever consider the most likely scenario that it was her stuff that was recovered, that she left it there, that she murdered him because they had a falling out? Most likely scenario, assuming the report is true that she was not blind drunk and lost, is a lover’s quarrel. Let’s hope the judge can call her and her enablers on this BS.