{"id":63568,"date":"2017-06-21T11:30:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T16:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=63568"},"modified":"2017-06-21T15:53:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:53:14","slug":"perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=63568","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two perspectives on the Yanez verdict:<\/p>\n

David French at National Review points out something<\/a> that a lot of Yanez’ defenders miss:<\/p>\n

If you read carefully, you\u2019ll note that it appears that the officer shot Castile for doing exactly what the officer told him to do. Yanez asked for Castile\u2019s license. Castile told him that he had a gun, and the officer \u2013 rather than asking for his carry permit, or asking where the gun was, or asking to see Castile\u2019s hands \u2013\u00a0just says, \u201cDon\u2019t reach for it then.\u201d At that point, Castile is operating under two commands. Get his license, and don\u2019t reach for his gun. As Castile reaches for his license (following the officer\u2019s orders), and he assures him that he\u2019s not reaching for the gun (also following the officer\u2019s orders). The entire encounter, he assures Yanez that he\u2019s following Yanez\u2019s instructions. He died anyway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve heard more than a few police-supporting conservatives justify the shooting by saying Castile had been told not to reach for his gun – but to comply with the other order he had to reach in the same general area (right rear pocket). \u00a0Some, with the benefit of hindsight, think that Castile should have reacted better.<\/p>\n

To which I respond “sit down in front of a microphone, or in front of a Toastmasters meeting, and give a speech for which you’re unprepared. \u00a0See if you remember your kids’ names”. \u00a0Stress does unpredictable things with human reactions. \u00a0Try it sometime.<\/p>\n

Better yet, don’t. Carry permittees are taught that the most dangerous time they’ll most likely face is police contact. \u00a0 If you’re a carry permittee, you need to train for police contact just like you train to deal with a threat; you need to go over your line, over and over. \u00a0Because from where I sit, it seems Castile’s big mistake was getting his lines backward – mentioning his gun before his permit.<\/p>\n

The other perspective – NRA commentator Colion Noir<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Other than Yanez’s testimony, there is nothing I read about the trial or any newly revealed facts to suggest that Philando was going for his gun. However, I don\u2019t know what Yanez saw that made him think Philando was going for the gun, I wasn\u2019t there, and I only have his words to go by. Sadly, Philando isn’t here to tell us other than his last dying statement of, \u201cI wasn\u2019t reaching for it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Personally, I feel because Yanez pulled Philando over under
\nThe suspicion that he was a robbery suspect coupled with the presence of a gun, it put Yanez in a heightened state. I feel he lost control of his wits and overreacted. This now brings me to the question of race. Do I think Yanez felt threatened by the fact that Philando was black? It’s very possible Yanez was indifferent about Philando’s race. However, because of the negative stereotype reinforced in the media about black men and guns, it wouldn’t completely surprise me if Yanez felt more threatened by Philando because he was black. This is the same negative stereotype that I’ve been trying to combat for years now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both pieces are worth reading all the way through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two perspectives on the Yanez verdict: David French at National Review points out something that a lot of Yanez’ defenders miss: If you read carefully, you\u2019ll note that it appears that the officer shot Castile for doing exactly what the officer told him to do. Yanez asked for Castile\u2019s license. Castile told him that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[378],"class_list":["post-63568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-victim-disarmament","tag-castile-case"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63569,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63568\/revisions\/63569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}