Personal Agendas places Selfishness over Righteousness in Journalism Today

For reform seekers, sometimes our best argument for reform gets lost and forgotten within the selfish need of others to make a point.  Just in case you have no idea what I am talking about, I would like for you to consider two different cases, each has its own merit screaming for reform but both enjoying the “loose lips” of those who attempt to define the struggle for change clearly blocking the one true argument for it.

The first case comes to us from writer Jackson Marciana writing for Counter Current News in an article titled “Woman Accidentally Shot and Killed By Cop While Trying To Hug Him”.  In this article he writes “Adaisha Miller was celebrating the weekend before she turned 25 when she was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.  Miller had been dancing with the Detroit officer, and upon coming in for a hug, his improper method of carrying his firearm resulted in its accidental discharge.  Adaisha’s mother, Yolanda McNair said that all of this happened at an outdoor party around 12:30 a.m. “For this to happen to her, whether they want to call it freak accident or mistake in judgment, it should have never happened to my child, and there’s nothing I can do to get her back,” McNair said to local WDIV news.  Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said that Miller “embraced the officer from behind, causing the holstered weapon to accidentally discharge.”  But a property holstered firearm will not discharge by itself. Whatever happened, we can be sure that the weapon was not being carried safely or in accordance with the law. This resulted in the bullet puncturing Miller’s lung and heart. She later passed away at the hospital.       

The officer remained on administrative duties throughout the course of an investigation into the shooting death.  Eventually, however, the case was closed and the officer was cleared of any wrong-doing.  Now, the family of Adaisha Miller says they want the case reopened. A petition on Change.org asks the Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to reopen the case.”

Now we should be able to clearly see the family wanting to be more included in the investigation and wishing to be made aware of the decision which was made by the Wayne County Prosecutor but the lesson here and the crying out of reform is the proper procedure for off-duty police officer to maintain their holstered weapons so that this does not happen again.  The life of Adaisha Miller is precious and it is a tragedy that it was lost but if we can use this instance to make sure that this does not re-occur then her life will not be in vain.  The thing that bothers me and the reason I call this personal agendas pushing selfishness is what is included at the end of this article.  It is a request to “Help get the word out about this petition! Add your name to the petition, like the Justice For Adaisha page and SPREAD THE WORD to everyone you know who cares!”  Really, is her life only worth getting more signatures on a petition?  The weapon was not drawn on her, nor does the officer appear to be a stranger to her.  They were dancing and celebrating her birthday so obviously they must have known each other.  The weapon was in the holster and if nothing else, the cry for reform of the way it was carried is what we need to focus on now.

The second case I would like to call your attention to is a very well-known one featuring the untimely death of Michael Brown.  As I am sure you can recall, Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri.  Now the scream for reform is the quick escalation from verbal commands to deadly force.  The improper training or lack of understanding what it should mean to be honored to wear the badge and the conduct of those elite people who are chosen to serve and protect but this too is being lost because divided sections of society are in dire search for other reasons to dismiss the over-reaction of cops in certain situations with certain individuals.  My point is, instead of keeping this on a focus of shooting and killing an unarmed man by a well-armed police officer, it has turned into a definition of character.  Those who support Darren Wilson wishes all to know that he is a good man and any assault on his good name taints all police officers.  They wish you to know that when you questions one cop over their actions or inactions, you are questioning the entire police departments all over this nation and therefore do not deserve the protection that they provide.  Reminds me of the day, businesses had to pay the mob for protection and what would happen to them if they didn’t.  Those who support Michael Brown wishes all to know that he would not hurt a fly and as Reverent Al Sharpton put it was a “gentle giant”.  They want all to know that he was a college man and had such a bright future.    All this blinds us to the fact that he was unarmed which in my calculations does not warrant deadly force. 

Now comes this new video which shows Mr. Brown in a totally different light.  This video does not show a gentle giant but a bully beating upon an old man.  It shows complete disdain for the health and well-being of another human being which flies in the face of who we were first told he was.  Find the video here https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152409165407282. 

Bottom line America, no one’s perfect and we all make mistakes.  There cannot be one person alive who has not made a single mistake or have done something that they are not proud of so any description of any of us as perfect angels, on its face, is more than just far-fetched, it’s false.  Let us re-focus what both of these stories are all about and try to keep all other noise to a minimum in order not to distract from what is really important.  Off-duty police should be required to insure that their weapons are only discharged in the performance of their duties and never by accident and it should be a solid rule that if a person is unarmed, deadly force shall never be authorized.