Hands off Marilyn J. Mosby!

What State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby did was uphold the duty of her office, which is to dispense justice and protect the rights of the citizens of Baltimore. “No one is above the law,” declared the state’s attorney in announcing charges against the officers.

But in cities across the country, the two are one insatiable beast that devours Black folk with impunity and without apology. Police departments across the country scoff when complaints are lodged and filed—or attempts are made to file complaints against officers. When a questionable death occurs, prosecutors around the country pick up reports from police departments that investigate and exonerate themselves and declare killings were justifiable homicides.

Black people, Black families, Black communities are left with the agony of loss, the arrogance of those in power and hopelessness that comes from an inability to get justice. Instead of focusing on the specific actions of officers in individual events, any question about police behavior is misconstrued as an assault on the entire department. An underlying threat also comes back: The Thin Blue Line between the thugs and the savages must not be touched or asked to explain itself. Police officers must be allowed to act without limits and are never to be questioned. The threats warn that if the watchers are not granted total power, they will walk away and criminal predators will tear the society, the city and the country apart. The predators and the thugs are Black, in particular Black males, with a growing number of Black females included in the group.

So year after year, incident after incident, the breasts of Black people ache and hearts are broken as nothing is done and no one cares. No one cares about Black pain and no one cares about fairness and justice for Black people in America.

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