LUMPENPROLETARIAT—As France has passed a new law outlawing copwatching and the filming of cops, and cops in America seek to do the same, urban areas look more and more like a police state. And cops increasingly act like it, at least in black, brown, and poor communities. Another young person of color has been gunned down by cowardly cops, this time in Ohio. Another life has been gratuitously and extrajudiciously been snuffed out by the American state, by an increasingly despotic state, if we think about it, if we start to do the math on all the carnage, economic damage, human suffering, and environmental destruction.

As reported on Democracy Now!, Casey Christopher Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old black man, “was fatally shot Friday by a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy outside Goodson’s home in Columbus.” Police said Casey Goodson matched the description of a suspect and was seen driving by waving a gun. So, they killed him. Shoot first, ask questions later, is the refrain. Goodson’s family said he, “was carrying a Subway sandwich and was returning from a dentist’s office when he was shot in the back three times by the sheriff’s deputy.”

Meanwhile, a lot of white people are unhappy with the Black Lives Matter movement for some reason. I wonder why. It’s true: “Black lives matter ‘cos all lives matter”, to quote Jeru Tha Damaja. Justice for murder is a reasonable request: Jail killer cops. Yet, right-wingers have come out with reactionary slogans like “Cop Lives Matter” and waving “Thin Blue Line” flags. All those white people, and a few confused persons of color here and there, on the right and in Trump Nation evidently don’t see a problem with killer cops killing with impunity.

Messina

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DEMOCRACY NOW!—Back in the United States, in Ohio, activists are demanding justice for Casey Christopher Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man who was fatally shot Friday by a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy outside Goodson’s home in Columbus. Family members say Goodson was carrying a Subway sandwich and was returning from a dentist’s office when he was shot in the back three times by the sheriff’s deputy. Authorities had been searching for a suspect in the area Friday afternoon, when they say a man allegedly drove by waving a gun, prompting deputies to confront him. Authorities later said they recovered a handgun, but did not say where it was found. Family members say Goodson had a concealed-carry permit for a handgun. They are demanding the release of bodycam footage, police reports, and for an independent autopsy and investigation.

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

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[7 DEC 2020]

[Last modified on 7 DEC 2020 at 11:00 PST]