Do you remember who Anthony “Tony” Robinson Jr. was?
Tony Robinson was the 19 year old shot and killed by Madison, Wisonsin Police Officer Matt Kenney, who, while responding to a call that Robinson was had assaulted someone and was in the street dodging traffic, defended himself when Robinson attacked him as well.
The original accusations over this incident were that – as with Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Brown, among others – a White, racist cop killed a poor defenseless Black man.
And, like those other instances, it turned there was a lot more to the story.
How ingrained is this narrative? The Associated Press account of no charges being filed against the Police Officer, written by Todd Richmond, starts by saying “A white Wisconsin police officer won\’t be charged for fatally shooting an unarmed 19 year old biracial man….”
Boom. First thing we see is White cop/unarmed young man of color. al sharpton could have written that, word for word.
Only later on do we find out that the lab reports showed he was high on hallucogenic drugs, marijuana and Xanax at the time (funny what unarmed people do when they\’re full of drugs). And nowhere in the article do we find out that, last year, he was convicted and sentenced for armed robbery and home invasion.
We are all individuals. Being Black does not mean being a criminal. Far, far from it.
But being Black does not mean being an innocent victim either. And, it seems clear, Tony Robinson was no innocent victim.
I applaud Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne for his fact-based decision…
“I conclude that (Robinson\’s) tragic and unfortunate death was the result of a lawful use of deadly police force and that no charges should be brought against Officer Kenny in the death of Tony Robinson Jr.”
…and for his courage (Mr. Ozanne is also biracial, and I have little doubt that, in a left wing hotbed like Madison, Wisconsin, he is going to be in for it and then some because of this decision).
Let the facts always lead us to the correct conclusions, whatever those conclusions may be.
