I've personally been deeply saddened by the relative lack of attention this incident has been getting. Even more so than the Michael Brown case (which is heinous enough), the almost instantaneous execution of a 12-year old child on a playground seems like the sort of thing that would make people re-think things. Maybe if this were any other country.
And now OF COURSE we have the campaign to turn a 12 year-old boy into a thug. But how does one do that?? Turns out it is simple enough. If you are the cops, you just feed some information to Cleveland.com.
http://www.slate.com/...
Well aware of the fact that it's tough to make a sixth grader out to be a hardened criminal, they have now decided to excuse Tamir Rice's execution (and I encourage EVERYONE to use that term whenever they refer to this case, language matters) by letting it be known that his father has a history of domestic assault against his mother. The Northeast Ohio Media group and the police can claim ignorance all they want. Those of us who know their tricks realize the ONLY reason to disseminate this information for public consumption (which was published mere hours before the tape was released) is to convince a portion of the public to hold Tamir Rice responsible for his father's sins. It is a expected turn in what is already the most disgusting situation I have seen in some time.
This is how our justice system operates. This is how the police and media operate. I posted a comment half in jest a few days that for a cop to face justice for his actions in this country, he would have to slice the throat of an infant on videotape. What happened to Tamir Rice is not far off from that scenario. So it appears I may have underestimated what it would take.
Edit: I'd like to throw in the fact that after the shooting, the cops refused to even give first aid to a dying child lying in agony on the ground. Monsters.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...
Update: A sample of media headlines in regards to white SUSPECTS in crimes and black VICTIMS from back in August.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...