FREE THOUGHT: JUDICIAL INTEGRITY

Michael Slager is the South Carolina white cop who in April 2015 pursued, shot and killed Walter Scott, a black man as he was running away from him. Slager aimed and pumped five bullets into the victim’s back. This crime was video recorded and presented as evidence in court.

On Monday, December 5th a judge declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked, unable to find Michael Slager guilty of murder. The jury consisted of eleven whites and one black. North Charleston, which is where the murder took place, has a 47% black population according to the census bureau, though the jury pool came from Charleston County which is 30% black and where the jury decided the case. Still, it begs to question, why does a community with such a high black population was only represented by 8% from the jury selection process? Well, knowing the history of the American judicial system towards blacks, it’s no surprise, and to think we have made a lot of progress over the past fifty years it’s still very frightening.

Here is an even greater concern.

Donald Trump is now the President-Elect of these United States. And ever since he had set his sights on the Oval Office back in 2015 there has been a reinvigorated wave of energy across the country to hate and hurt people, if you don’t look white. Just think; just think for one moment that many of these people committing hate crimes will end up in a courtroom judging us as their peers. Do you think many of these said rogue cops may feel even less inhibited to murder innocent people without the fear of the consequences?