Hey, friends.
I had another post set to go, about Oldest and the First Four Days— of in person school, that is.
We can talk about in person school and the pretzel my stomach twists into when I think about Oldest’s ever-sagging mask (and his huge smile as he gets off the bus) another time.
With what’s going on in the city that I live in—
the city that I call home—
the city that I love—
I took the time to write a different post today.
Most of the world knows by now that on Sunday afternoon, a 20 year old Black man named Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer in an inner ring suburb of Minneapolis.
Most of the world is watching as the prosecution rests their case in the trial of Derek Chauvin, and the defense begins their case. The jury is expected to begin deliberations this week and to hand down a verdict: was George Floyd’s death murder, or was it accidental?
Most of the world has an opinion on that, as well as the death of Daunte Wright: was that deliberate, or was it accidental?
No comment from Officer Kim Potter, who resigned on April 13th. I believe it is worth noting several things here: first, that she was the police union’s president in 2019 (an organization that in Minneapolis has been headed within the last 12 months by someone who has allegedly worn a white supremacist group’s patch on his motorcycle jacket, called one of our state senators a terrorist for being POC and Muslim, and has made many public and racist comments, as well as being suspended and demoted by the department as well as sued for use of excessive force), second, that she immediately relocated her entire family out of Minnesota, and third, that she was responsible for the training of other police officers.
Accidental, said Tim Gannon, former Brooklyn Center police chief. To his credit, he released body cam footage within 24 hours and resigned from office before 72 hours had passed. To his detriment, he characterized the shooting as an ‘accidental discharge’ within 24 hours.
To the detriment of the police department as a whole, they took no action other than placing Officer Potter on administrative leave, pending review. This institutional passivity— and now the pointing at the resignations by the mayor of Brooklyn Center, with expressed hope that “this will help bring some calm to the community” is another instance of allowing individuals to take action while institutions do nothing.
Daunte Wright was a grandson, a son, a father to a two year old child. A younger brother. Reportedly generous.
Daunte Wright was disabled, by his parents’ own admission.
He had a learning disability, and left school early, although he planned to get a GED and make a better life for himself and his son.
What sort of learning disability? We don’t know, from what has been said publicly.
This is where the holes in the Swiss cheese line up, and the double burden of racism and ableism create a load for disabled POC youth— and make no mistake, Daunte was still a youth— that make it almost impossible for those youth to…
…to get ahead? Hah.
…to simply survive.
Racism:
Daunte told his mother he was pulled over for a ‘dangling air freshener’, which is indeed against the law (although this has been challenged several times). If Daunte’s explanation was accurate, this was a pretextual stop, targeting a person of color. (For Lynx fans, in 2012, Seimone Augustus was pulled over on the basis of a dangling air freshener, and then questioned about her out of state license plates, being at a suburban mall, and theft at the mall.)
Officer Potter was clearly agitated in the body cam footage. If Daunte had been white, would she have been that agitated, shouting, “I’m going to Tase you! Taser! Taser!”
A large body of research spanning decades clearly shows that stress and agitation shut down the prefrontal cortex, which enhance planning and decision making capacity.
Daunte was Black, male, and struggling. Did that significantly contribute to a conscious or subconscious decision on Ms. Potter’s part?
She may never say, but I have my own thoughts on the matter. I believe that racism and agitation contributed to Ms. Potter grabbing that gun.
Ableism:
Daunte had a learning disability. Again, research shows us that under stress, higher brain functions shut down, and those brain functions include complex things like verbal communication. Even individuals without a disability want to get away from whatever is causing stress, and often do not process what is being said to them well or efficiently.
In the body cam footage, someone is grabbing at Daunte, several people are talking at loud volume, hands are reaching his direction. The situation is chaotic and noisy; not optimal for someone with a learning disability.
If he was 8, we would think, “Of course he isn’t listening.”
If he had a genetic syndrome like Down syndrome, we would think, “Of course he isn’t cooperating.”
Just because Daunte’s disability is invisible, no one bothers to check for it, and we think, “My god, why doesn’t he just stand still?”
The holes in the Swiss cheese line up, and that double burden of assumptions lands squarely on the victim, dragging him down with a bullet in his chest and a diagnosis of homicide, made at the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office.
Here’s the thing, though, about the holes in the Swiss cheese being lined up: when you can see all the way through the holes to that end result? The people gathered and mourning around their fallen loved one can see you right back.
So now? Now you have a choice.
You can choose to look away, and let that double burden continue to kill disabled people of color. You can do nothing, and nothing will change.
Or you can choose to act.
You can ask the questions that stand at the heart of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice:
-who is in the room?
-who is trying to get into the room, but can’t?
-has everyone’s idea been heard?
-whose ideas won’t be taken seriously because they aren’t in the majority?
Or just ask the simplest question of all:
What would love do?
