I have critiqued TIME Magazine's cover choices and journalism in the past, principally because it remains the most-circulated news weekly in the United States, and as such influences societal discourse (often negatively).
It is for this reason I view this week's TIME cover and cover story to be both significant and worth commending after the murder of Walter Scott by police officer Michael Slager in North Charleston.
Here is the cover:
After the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and the countless other black Americans who have been killed by police, those who have wanted to deny the victims' their innocence have been able to do so behind a shield of police accounts.
This time, with video of the brutal murder and the planting of evidence on Scott's body captured by a brave witness, the discussion will be different. Yes, racists will try to lean on their familiar tropes, but they will do so in the face of undeniable evidence of what one black American tragically faced in Charleston. An echo of what so many invisibly face.
This time, the discussion will be different, as David Von Drehle's story in TIME indicates. A discussion not about whether racism coupled with police brutality exist, but a discussion about how solutions. Here is Von Drehle's final paragraph:
The shocking nature of the South Carolina shooting, so vividly captured on the video, ought to put police departments on the same side with the protesters who are demanding change. Everyone would benefit from less suspicion and fear. Everyone shares an interest in better training and technology to reduce the number of times the gun comes out of the holster. Everyone would be happier in a climate of trust among police and the public. No matter who you are, if you’ve seen Walter Scott gunned down, you now know what the problem looks like. Senseless and tragic, it is nonetheless a step toward solutions.
Now, whether such a discussion will lead to anything but the continued oppression of black American by law enforcement remains to be seen. But at least an often lagging, influential publication like TIME is putting the discussion front and center.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.