Officials were wrong to jump to conclusions in deputy’s slaying

Share

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali. 
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC
African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie
Kidnapped: The Middle Passage
Enslaved family picking cotton
Nearly Three Centuries Of Enslavement
Image of the first black members of Congress
Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom
The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200
One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Civil Rights protest in Alabama
I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice
Black Lives Matter movement
NOW: Free At Last?
#15-Beitler photo best TF reduced size
Memorial to the Victims of Lynching
hands raised black background
The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall
Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville
Special Exhibits
Dr. James Cameron
Portraiture of Resistance

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Ways to Support ABHM?

By Lisa Falkenberg, the Houston Chronicle

Three days after Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth was gunned down at a gas station in a senseless attack that has left this community shocked and grieving, the district attorney offered reassuring words.
“This crime is not going to divide us; this crime is going to unite us,” Devon Anderson told reporters, citing the diverse crowds of people who have held vigil for Goforth following the murder.

If only that message had come sooner. If only Sheriff Ron Hickman had echoed it.

Deputy Darren Goforth

Deputy Darren Goforth

If only Harris County’s top law enforcement officials hadn’t turned a white deputy’s death, allegedly at the hands of a black man, into yet another wedge between police and communities of color.

With a motive still unclear, Hickman seemed to cast early blame on a civil rights movement known as #blacklivesmatter, which attempts to raise awareness about racial bias in policing. It was inspired by a string of high-profile police shootings of unarmed black men.

“We’ve heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too, so why don’t we just drop the qualifiers and just say lives matter and take that to the bank,” Hickman said in a news conference…

Shannon Jaruay Miles, 30, who stands charged with capital murder in Goforth’s death, and it’s still unclear what motivated him. If authorities have linked him to Black Lives Matter, they haven’t said.

It does appear Miles has a long history of clashes with police, and of mental illness. The Chronicle’s Brian Rogers reported Tuesday that Miles spent four months in a mental hospital in 2012 after being declared incompetent to stand trial in an aggravated assault case.

Shannon J. Miles

Shannon J. Miles

This may turn out to be yet another tragic story of mental illness and about all-too-easy access to guns. It may have nothing to do with race…

Officers who risk their lives to protect us are worthy of respect, and one of them just lost his life. That should be the focus here. That should bring us together.

Yes, all lives matter. But then, that was always the point.

Read the full article here.

Read more Breaking News here.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.

Leave a Comment