Say a little prayer for Kansas City

Last night there was a prayer vigil/march/protest/travesty on behalf of Lamonte M. Livingston, the man who was shot to death by the KCPD after allegedly punching an officer in the face and seriously injuring an officer with a machete.

This vigil/farce should probably answer all your questions about the murder rate in Kansas City. On television, Livingston's mother and relatives wept for him and ask why he was shot and yet fail to mention that he was reportedly carrying a machete. I can think of several instances where people in this town have been unjustly persecuted by the KCPD but nobody can claim they were just minding their own business while carrying a foot long blade.

The attempt to spin this shooting into a political debate about police brutality or racism is not only a cynical ploy but also provides evidence that a few members of the (Black) community are hopelessly out of touch when it comes to escalating violence IN THEIR COMMUNITY and the role of law enforcement in remedying that situation. Put simply, you can't bitch and whine about the entire community killing each other and then scorn the police for simply defending themselves in the same breath.

And just to prove I'm not one of those "back the badge" creeps, I must maintain that my support of the KCPD in this instance is not based on principal but merely practicality. Everybody in this town (should) know the score. You do not threaten the KCPD and expect to live long. These guys have tasered old ladies for getting out of line and they have a long list of knife wielding people who no longer walk the planet because they raised their hand the wrong way. A few years ago, an old buddy of mine was killed by the KCPD for pointing a knife in the wrong direction (theirs). There was little community outrage from white people. It was an unfortunate incident considering the guy had psychological problems but nobody lost their job over the incident.

And yet the hypocrisy from the people who demand answers for Livingston's death is exactly the kind of thing that makes fighting crime in minority communities so difficult and ultimately futile. The "answer" is that the guy made the unfortunate mistake of attacking police with a big ass blade; and for that there is no second chance. All over this town there are other instances of minorities "leaders" who fail to acknowledge the drug dealers, gangsters, thugs but mostly drug dealers in their own community that contribute to the same crime that the leaders rally against.

As a Latino in this town, I've seen far too many known drug dealers held up as martyrs and victims. However, I knew these people for what they were and while their deaths were tragic they were in no way undeserved.

Of course there will always be cases of people persecuted unjustly, and more than likely those people will be Black or Latino. However, not every minority killed by the police is a martyr and not every victim of violence is completely innocent.