White Cop Escapes Charges--Where Have All the Fathers Gone?

Today in a measured tone damping from his forehead beads of sweat
The D.A. for Dane County approached the podium to defray a possible riot threat
Two months ago in Madison another unarmed young biracial black man was killed
By a white cop once again with a community on edge to swallow another riot pill
Here the victim had already spawned three 911 calls
Punching people, stopping cars, banging his head into apartment walls
On mushrooms and not the ones you buy at Wal-Mart’s or at Trader Joes
But the kind from a street corner dealer that are more like snorting blow
The D.A. laid out the facts that neighbors and strangers were facing a man on drugs
Out of control, hostile and acting like a vicious thug
Has to be a cop’s worse nightmare, walking up a stairwell and not knowing what would be there
Hoping the dispatcher was right and the assailant could not a firearm bring to bear
A sudden blow to the cop’s head bounced  him into the wall
Backing down but now dizzy and afraid he would lose balance and fall
A broken neck, concussion and more importantly the loss of his gun to a man with drugs having taken root
No alternative, no chance to warn only to aim and shoot
Seven shots in but seconds so few
CPR notwithstanding a young black man he slew
The D.A. based on the facts he outlined in his conference to the press
Decided criminal charges against the officer he could not bring; he would not the officer’s split second decision second guess
So far the streets of Madison are calm which is a very healthy sign
The forces of violence do not appear to in force be aligned
This shooting and the deaths of arrestees like the ones we have seen in recent times
Whether causing a riot or not, we have a bigger and bigger mountain to try to climb
Police be they white or black are arresting blacks at two to ten times their population weight
We cannot charge it off to police brutality, profiling, or with the arrests the race card to mate
Something else is tipping the arrest leading young blacks to be on the express train to jail
An explanation why too many young blacks are doomed to be in a cell and in life most likely fail
Three out of four are born out of wedlock and over six out of ten are in a home where the father is never seen again
No role model of a father, poverty almost a sure thing, jail is not an “if” only a “when”
Black arrests and black violent confrontations with the police are symptoms, the proverbial iceberg tip
Of the total breakdown of the black family which must be addressed to break the one way to prison express trip.
© May 12 , 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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