Standing While Black

On October 29th, an Anaheim, California, police officer went on a chase after some kids he suspected of breaking into a department store. Not for shooting anyone. Not for threatening someone with a knife. Not even for striking someone with their fists. For busting some glass and perhaps trying to snatch some merchandise.

He pursued them first with his car, then on foot, reporting on his radio that the kids were hopping fences trying to escape. Not firing weapons at the officer. Not pointing guns. Just running to get away.

At around 1:30 am, Julian Alexander heard some noises and had the misfortune to step out of his house to see what was going on. He stood on his lawn, reportedly holding a broomstick. Within minutes, perhaps moments, a cop came running around a corner, saw a young Black man standing there, and from less than 20 feet away, opened fire. Julian was shot twice in the chest, and then, as his family looked on in horror, was handcuffed on the ground. He died later in a hospital.

While the police chief immediately took the unusual step of absolving the victim of a police shooting of all wrongdoing, the cops are saying little else, as the incident is now under investigation. The name of the officer who fired his weapon is being withheld for his “protection,” of course. No doubt after sufficient time has passed, a more palatable explanation for Julian Alexander’s death – other than he was executed in cold blood – will be forthcoming from the authorities.

In the meantime, flowers and heartfelt condolences etched in chalk on the sidewalk barely capture the searing pain that is felt by Julian Alexander’s neighbors, friends and family. Renee Alexander, a young woman basking in the excitement of a new marriage has been made a grieving widow only nine days after her and Julian’s wedding. In a few months she’ll have a baby who will have one parent already in the grave.

That child will not lack for company. To cite just a few examples: Less than two years ago another young Black man, Sean Bell, was killed by police – in New York City – in a hail of 50 bullets, only hours before his wedding, leaving a fiancée with three small kids. Last January, in Lima, Ohio, a young Black mother, Tarika Wilson, was killed by a SWAT veteran in her home as she clutched her infant son close to her chest. In both cases the officers who took lives paid no penalty. It usually turns out that way.

On November 3rd, Julian Alexander was laid to rest before 1,400 mourners. The following day, the election results gave more fuel to the ongoing fiction so gleefully trumpeted in the press, of the growing insignificance of race and racism. One wishes that this marvelous discovery had only been communicated to the police officer before he gunned down Julian Alexander. Evidently, he must not have gotten the message.