In the wake of protests concerning the shootings and unlawful deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and Dallas police officers, there are seemingly 110 questions we should be asking ourselves as Americans. The most crucial question-- although simple on the surface, it cascades with follow-up questions, answers, and arguments- -is, "What kind of American nightmare are we living in?" Well, a militarized, looming police state would be a great place to start! Modern-day photos of law enforcement convey heavily armed, well-armored men and women that look more ominous than a military member going into combat would. Footage of police officers at protests, even if peaceful, reveal instigation and aggressiveness toward protesters. Finally, the blatantly obvious transformation, the sheer disregard for due process law enforcement has developed. The Dallas Police force's decision to kill Micah Xavier Johnson, an armed suspect of the shootings, with a bomb-carrying robot was commended by many, including the mayor of Dallas. But for those of us who are aware that the fifth amendment states, "No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," the murder of Micah Xavier Johnson ignites a fire within to defend and preserve our rights and to stand up to the systematic removal of them.
According to police and press reports, an armed Johnson was hiding in a parking garage and refused to give himself up. Hours of negotiation led to the department's life-ending and rights-destructive decision to blow him up with, according to Peter Van Buren--a retired State Department Official, who served a tour in Iraq--a wingless drone.
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Dallas Police claim the negotiations put officers at risk and were futile. While no one would ever want to see a police officer harmed, it is a fairly obvious assumption that they accept that risk when they accept the job. Rather than upholding a citizen's constitutional rights and taking the risk they willingly accepted when they became a part of law enforcement, they decided to kill a man without due process. Horrendous accusations aside, Johnson was a citizen of the United States and was, as the Fifth Amendment assures us, entitled to his life, liberty and property without due process of law.
Dallas police wrongly identified Mark Hughes, an African-American protester openly and legally carrying a rifle, as a suspect. They publicly tweeted a photo of him. What if someone, law enforcement or not, had went after this man? What if the Dallas police had used the robot to blow Mark Hughes, the innocent suspect of the fatalities, up? What if an innocent person is killed without due process during a future altercation? What if another person, although guilty, is unjustly killed during a future altercation? Does the government have a right to kill us to protect themselves? By those standards, shouldn't we have the right to kill or use weapons against them to protect ourselves? How can we do so if they continue to regulate and shred our right to weapons? Is the solution to public safety to confiscate public weapons and continue to allow a steady flow of military equipment from the Department of Defense to the police force? Does the government have the right to steamroll over the fifth amendment? How many more unprecedented, constitutional rights-killing tasks will they accomplish before enough is enough in the eyes of the American public? These are the cascading questions that we need to be asking ourselves to prepare for our seemingly tyrannical future.
Regardless of the state of our union, we must not succumb to submitting our rights for more "protection." The killing of Micah Xavier Johnson was murder without a trial. It was a direct violation of his constitutional rights. Returning to my initial question...What kind of American nightmare are we living in, in-which those sworn to protect us, uphold our constitutional rights and never betray our public trust are using drones on American-soil, to kill American citizens, without due process?
