11/03/2022
WHY WERE GUNS DRAWN?
On May 14, 1970, seventeen-year-old Black high schooler James Earl Greene was walking home through the historically Black campus of Jackson State College.
There Greene encountered a tough-on-protest-as-crime phalanx of police officers who fired more than 400 rounds in 28 seconds on a group of Black students, killing him (Source: New York Times).
Greene was among the two killed and eleven others injured.
Each spring, Jackson State students would protest for the closure of John R. Lynch Street, a street that cut directly through the center of Jackson State's campus. It was a popular route for local racist drivers who wanted to taunt their Black students.
On February 3, 1964 Black Jackson State student Mamie Ballard had been struck and injured on campus by a white driver, sparking annual protests for the closure of Lynch Street and demands for accountability for the offending driver.
Shooting survivor and Jackson State student Vernon Weakley describes a Jackson police force looking for any pretext they could find to start firing on students (Source: Mississippi Free Press).
"How would they have known to have all those policemen in riot gear, a tank... in an hour...
I saw all the carnage. I saw other people getting shot. I saw so many other people just get hurt. I saw people fighting trying to get in. It was an unbelievable sight. The sky lit up like daytime, traces from the bullets were shooting all over our heads. It's something I'll never forget.
When I was in high school, I was a naive, God-fearing kid, but coming to Jackson State, joining a [Black] fraternity and having this occur to me, the shooting, it just changed me forever."
On January 7, 2022, Hollywood director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) was approached by Atlanta police at the teller counter inside of a Bank of America (Source: Fox 5 Atlanta - bodycam).
Bank staff had called them to the scene. At least one officer drew his gun, even though Coogler was unarmed, his back was facing the officer, and his hands were clearly visible.
Bank staff had become suspicious when Coogler, a Black man, had written a message on the back of his bank withdrawal slip:
"I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money count somewhere else. I'd like to be discreet" (Source: TMZ image).
The teller wrongly concluded that he was trying to rob the bank, even though Coogler was requesting cash from his own checking account.
Coogler had a valid bank account number and presented his picture ID to the teller upon request (Source: Buzzfeed). An alert on Coogler's account was triggered for exceeding the $10,000 cash withdrawal limit.
The teller didn't read his name and began exhibiting bias and assumptions sometimes attributed to Black predator threat, including fear of harm to a child and ill intent.
Coogler calmly illustrated the circumstances to officers, clearly traumatized by the events.
“I ain’t had guns drawn on me in a while, bro... I just had guns drawn for taking money out my own account."
A bank teller congratulated the officers as they took Coogler outside. "Good job, guys" (Source: Fox 5 Atlanta - Bodycam).
