Glad to see someone get mad—really mad—on the airwaves about the latest travesty of justice unfolding in front of us in Louisville, Kentucky, where it was announced today that zero police officers are being held accountable for the killing of Brionna Taylor.
Zero.
Charges of first-degree wanton endangerment, a Class D felony, are being brought against former officer Brett Hankison for shooting into the apartment next door. The maximum sentence for this charge is five years; the minimum is one year.
Dr. Jason Johnson, MSNBC contributor and Morgan State journalism professor, was not having it. In an impassioned series of remarks on MSNBC’s Deadline White House, hosted by Nicolle Wallace, he called out “state-sponsored white supremacy.”
Give him a listen.
Here’s a partial transcript, courtesy of Mediate’s Josh Feldman.
Johnson told Nicolle Wallace, “I’m so disgusted by this. I’m so disgusted by Daniel Cameron’s performance. I am so sick and tired of Black people going on the air and performing for violence and white supremacy and state-sponsored violence against Black people and claiming their mamas and claiming because they’re a Black man, they care about it — This woman got shot in her house! When she was asleep!”
“I’m sitting right here in my house right now,” Johnson said. “If cops busted into my house right now and shot me on the air, what Daniel Cameron basically told America is that that would be legal!. If they thought that there was something wrong, I could be shot in broad daylight, on national television, in my house, because the cops can break in and shoot whoever they want if they’re concerned! That is why people are upset.”
Folks on social media—especially Black folks—are calling out Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
Cameron is a Black Republican who spoke at the Republican National Convention last month. That should tell you something. (I refuse to say what I think about him here, but I’m sure you can guess.)
Joy Reid makes a good point.
Killing Black folks—in their homes, on their way to work, while they’re playing with toys, going jogging, or headed to the store—is being normalized. Again.
Vote every racist Republican out of office—no matter what damn color they are.