Walter Scott was shot dead by a South Carolina police officer on Saturday April 4, the same day MLK Jr. was shot some forty-seven years ago. Martin’s death was ruthlessly carried out — as the video clearly shows — and the death of this once unknown man scrambling to make a life was as callously executed. The video is one you will not soon forget, but at what cost?
Here, we examine the startling visual’s contents and draw our own conclusions. And, by we I mean Sr. Features Writer Ural Garrett, Editor-In-Chief Justin Hunte, and, myself, Features Editor Andre´ Grant.
After Ferguson, What Does Seeing This Video Mean?
Ural: Yesterday was one of the most fascinating days in the DX offices in quite some time. It all began when we posted the news story on some GoFundMe page dedicated to helping Suge Knight with his bail. For a majority of the day, we all laughed at the prospects of people actually sending money to someone with that kind of criminal record. This is all between the moments of normal distractions, including New York Times articles and WorldStarHipHop. Making my way around to the NYT later in the day, what I saw actually didn’t surprise me much. Last year alone, three important videos showed two black men and one child essentially executed without mercy. What shocked me most was that Feidin Santana was able to record the murder clearly enough for the world so we could finally see the lack of respect law enforcement has for black lives while leaving with his life intact. Time will tell what happens to Santana in the following weeks as the guy who recorded Garner’s death, Ramsey Orta, was later arrested on trumped up charges shortly afterward and currently has to worry about rat poison in his prison food. This is what make the hyper connected social media generation so great at times. Because let’s be honest: Law enforcement and local media would have swept this under the rug without remorse.
From the looks of things, South Carolina officials have already responded quite well. The officer involved Michael Slager has been arrested and charged, body cameras will be placed on every officer in the state and I believe that people are absolutely fed-up with the lopsided justice system black men (and women) have historical dealt with for decades. Respectability politics are out the window as this isn’t time to make a bull shit lessons on black-on-black crime; it’s about tax funded officials going beyond their scope of power. Scott’s outstanding warrant for neglecting child support payments are insignificant considering how much money Wall Street has stolen from American people. In fact, all of this is going on as sympathetic terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (let Rolling Stone tell it) is comfortably awaiting sentencing after assisting in the Boston Bombing. Hell, the guy involved in the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado is still awaiting his trial he left thirteen people dead. Looks like black men who miss child support payments or are caught holding fake guns, wallets, cell phones, bootleg DVDs, Gucci Mane mixtapes, chicken dinners, watches, hairbrushes, Wiimotes, pizza, Bibles, pocket change, condoms or a sandwich are a lot more threatening.
Andre: There is no way to predict when you’ll be shot. Even as the trigger is squeezed and you hear the ring of the hammer clank back, there still seems to be some kind of hope, some kind of feeling that life may just continue. Firstly, there’s the propensity for users to err. Then there is the device itself jamming or something. And then there’s the last ditch hope for the miraculous. For the idea that you are special and chosen and anything will intervene on your behalf or that the universe will shift on its axis in that moment just enough to knock off the bullet’s trajectory. In the immortal words of Jigga, “Three shots close range, never touched me: Divine intervention,” or some such thing. Except when you’re talking the police in the United States. Their aim is the truest. And if you happen to be a black man and you’ve done something wrong or you haven’t, the cost of fleeing for your life is death. The cost of defending your life is death. The cost of daring to be alive seems to be perpetual, unwavering harassment. But let’s not speak in terms of hyperbole. The video evidence is egregious, yes, but some people are wicked human beings and nothing can be done.
Still, what is most present here is the banality of the injustice. The sheer willfulness of the procedures that render black life endangered. We always hear the results of those procedures. One in three black men are likely to serve prison time in America is what you’ll constantly be told. But will you be told that the United States has the largest prison population in the world? You’ll hear about the reverse racism of Affirmative Action, but will they then reveal that a black person with a degree is less likely to be hired for a position than a white person without one? And, of course, you’ll hear about the ghetto, but will you then hear about how systemic racism created them. About redlining? I’m not so sure, and these statistics are the most damning, for me, because they show a callous disregard for a large subset of a population awash in unfairness. Check the DOJ report about Ferguson for further evidence of the like. All of this is depressing, utterly. Still, here we are. And we must deal with this video being presented of a man being shot in the back until he was dead. You can never unsee it.
Justin: I’m happy that a good Samaritan had the courage to film Officer Michael Slager shooting 50-year old Walter Scott in the back eight times, then turned that video over to the media, family, and police. That unnamed person is a hero. Who knows how the headlines might’ve read without that visceral, undeniable evidence.
I’m happy that the North Charleston Police Department terminated, arrested, and swiftly charged Michael Slager with murder. Sadly, the same never happened in the tragic death of Eric Garner, whose murder at the hands of the New York Police Department was also captured on video.
I’m happy with the statements released by the US Senators from South Carolina Tim Scott and Leslie Graham, as well as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and South Carolina Congressman Mark Sanford. I’m happy that the state of South Carolina — my home state, a state where the Confederate Flag currently flies in front of the state house — ironically appears to be handling the most recent case of another unarmed citizen being murdered by another on-duty police officer much more effectively than Missouri, Ohio, and New York, at least in these tragic early days.
More than anything else though, I hate that I’m feeling myself growing more and more desensitized…
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is an Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
Justin “The Company Man” Hunte is the Editor-in-Chief of HipHopDX. He was the host of The Company Man Show on PNCRadio.fm and has covered music, politics, and culture for numerous publications. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California. Follow him on Twitter@TheCompanyMan.
This is related to hip hop how?
^ Responses like this shows why nothing will ever change . Thank god I don’t live in America . (Home Of The Free) sounds like some kind of twisted joke .
If you really knew anything about the Culture of Hip-Hop, you wouldn’t ask such a “silly” question
Someone please explain how this relates to music. Just because the person that was murdered was black does not mean it’s related. If it is and I’m wrong please explain it so that someone as simple minded as myself might understand.
Listen to K Dots new album and come back
Hip-Hop isn’t only about music; it is about culture. And I believe this article qualifies as something relevant to a discussion within the Hip-Hop community.
Hip-Hop is BLACK. How wouldn’t this be related to the genre?
Hip Hop was originally a voice for the disenfranchised it was a way for people who were being oppressed to voice their opinions ..
Is it really that hard to comprehend how this can play into the hiphop narrative
Exactly why I listen to rap and not hiphop.
Pointless comment above ..Any excuse .LOL
Hip hop is really considered as the voice of the voiceless we’ve been covering all kinds of injustices inequality from the beginning from from a mainly black urban perspective from day one. It was meant to be used as a tool and why many referred to it in earlier years as the black CNN
I guess we’ll just conveniently leave out out the fact that the guy GOT IN A SCUFFLE WITH A POLICE OFFICER FOR HIS GUN AND THEN RAN AWAY…
And you know for a fact 50 year old Walter Scott attempted to grab his gun right? …
Should we also ignore the convenient truth that officer Michael Slager a public servant paid by tax payers both black and white was clearly seen planting/throwing his taser next to the dead body of Walter Smith
I suppose that convenient truth doesn’t fit into your socially engineered narrative right ?
The common denominator in every one of these “tragedies” is that the person physically attacks a police officer, or commits a crime, or steals from a store, or runs from a cop, etc. How about just be a law abiding citizen so that you won’t have to worry about incidents like this one? Cause guess what, even though I’m white if I got into it with a cop I would suffer the exact same fate!
The police have rules and procedures while on the job and none of those rules state that if a suspect is running away during a traffic stop that it is part of the rule book to put five shots in his back. If someone is trying to tase you only an idiot would just stand their smiling and not try to move out of the way of thousands of volts of electricity. One of these days hopefully a black cop will stop you for a red light and pump some bullets through your window for talking back the way you guys do. It’s only alright until someone sentences your brother, mother or lover to death being uppity or resisting assault.
My point is that cops are assholes to everybody, not just black people. Just because incidents like this are the only ones you see shown on the news and social media these days (the allegedly racist white cop shooting the allegedly innocent black man) doesn’t mean that similar incidents are not happening to people of ALL races.
in many states it is considered murder if you shoot an intruder in the back, even if they are in your home because with their back to you they are considered to be fleeing and are no longer a threat to you.
i like that this sucmbag cops lawyer dropped him after seeing the video, and i hope this officer has a nice time reuniting with the people he put in jail…
there are no checks & balances for the police – but every phone having a video camera is helping.
RR, bruh, try and realize what your saying without being defensive.
Remove the republican democrat from it, takeaway that you feel sensitive or in some way offended about people’s commentary on race regarding this issue , or that bc you are white something is unfair and that you believe that white culture is the victim of racism. Let’s just ignore that ok dude, put yourself in Walter Scott’s families shoes and just imagine the pain your feeling watching your family member who is retreating, who is not putting you in fear of imminent bodily harm or death. Watch how slow and inathlettic he is running. Realize that he was stopped only for a traffic violation. And realize that what you witnessed does not constitute self defense but only murder.
Realize that you said earlier if somebody had not stole from a store they would not be dead. Theft is now an offense punishable by death? Are we midevil? Is death the only reasonable way this situation should have ended, by somebody meant to uphold and exemplify the law no less?
Try to have compassion and not view this threw your own hurt eyes. I am not black nor am I white but regardless I am human, work on being the same.
It’s a shame, a real tragedy. We as Black people see the Police as terrorists. The American Government should view that as being a real issue. Instead, they constantly sweep these kinds of stories under the rug and back the Officer’s testimony. You would think that after giving these people a functioning economy after hundreds of years of free labor, we would somehow be able to benefit from what our ancestors laid down. But, nope. 150 years after the supposed abolishment of slavery, we are coincidentally still fighting for our freedom. So, if the American Government won’t hear us, who will? Why are my tax dollars going to Israel every year, when my people are suffering here in this country? This is why I tell my people not to go and fight for this country. Take your money (their power) away from their businesses and stop sending your children, brothers and sisters away to die for this (I hate to say it buuttt…) white man’s nation.
Let’s see Fox News and bill o reily try and blame the victim for this one, again murder on footage.
But oscar grant, I’m not sure if that was his name, but the man from fruitvale station, that cop handcuffed himfor no reason stood over them and executed him on camera. And all that cop got was a little over a year in protective custody of course,
if it was anybody but a cop or a minority depending on thE state you were in you might get the death penalty. I hope this officer slager gets life or death but these cops always beat it and it is hard not to feel hopeless in these situations.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Walter Scott’s family and children. In these situations you just have to give it to God.
why are we only addressing this shit within the black community and the police department? There are other areas of racial tension…what about the fucking general public? But hey these are things that we have to just realize are gonna be here forever. Some people think in a way that they’re superior because of status, race, etc. It’s just true. How you deal with it is kind of like computer programming in Linux, you have to come up with your own scripting styles. that’s just how it is. you have to deal with it…..
While y’all make some great points, for the love of god PLEASE re-read your stuff before you publish. I cannot believe the amount of grammatical and syntactical errors from a bunch of “senior” writers. C’mon man!