Do we know for sure what happened yet?
No, we do not – with a special reminder to Jesse Jackson who was nice enough to go on TV and call it murder – no ifs, ands or buts – which, I’m sure will do wonders for keeping things calm and non-violent.
What we do know is that the police didn’t randomly show up at that convenience store, they were sent because a call came in saying someone was threatening people with a gun.
And there was Alton Sterling, a career criminal with a long rap sheet, a convicted felon who had no legal right to a gun….but was carrying one anyway.
Here is the most descriptive video so far (no way to know if there are others). It shows the seconds before he was shot, after the police had wrestled him to the ground. One of them says “I swear, if you fucking move…” and the other screams something about a gun – sounds like “He’s got a gun! Gun!'” – immediately after which the shots are fired and Sterling is mortally wounded:
Do you know for sure what happened? Do you know for sure why Sterling had been wrestled to the ground? His history notwithstanding, do you know for sure whether he was doing anything wrong at this time? Do you know for sure if he was in the process of drawing his gun?
Me neither.
So how about let’s not come to any conclusions before we get all the facts that are available.
Is that so hard to comprehend, Rev. Jackson?
Do you know for sure why Sterling had been wrestled to the ground?
Yes, because he didn’t comply with the officers commands.
From “A Man for All Seasons” [Thomas Beckett, assassinated on the orders of Henry II] :
This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?