The police did not just see a black kid and decide to shoot him. They were called because Rice was brandishing what appeared to be an actual weapon. The video clearly shows he began to reach for it as the police arrived. When this occurred I stated the police acted far too aggressively. But I also stated they were certainly not solely to blame for the event.
There's definitely blame that needs to fall on both sides in the Tamir case.
You're absolutely correct
However, these cases immediately get turned into a "police vs. citizens", "black vs. white", "republican vs. democrat", "pro-gun vs. anti-gun" battle. ...the details, unfortunately, become secondary. We can thank social media for a lot of that. With things like twitter, the first exposure a person has to the case information isn't a verified news report, it's the emotional ramblings of a twitter idealist, so by the time actual info comes out, people have already picked "which side of the battle" they're on.
Of course, the "what if this was your son" (followed by an innocent angelic picture of the kid...to imply that he was mommy's little angel and couldn't possibly be guilty of doing anything wrong) logic typically comes out of the left...
And the "well, they shouldn't have been committing a crime" (no matter how minor) justification for the police action comes out of the right...
I seriously think it's sad that society has devolved into a "how can we use something to gain emotional support for our cause" mentality....it's especially sad when it's a full blown tragedy that becomes the fodder for their proselytizing.
We saw it a lot with the topic of school shootings...both sides would use them as debate fuel, and then accuse each other of acting in bad taste for doing it.
