Thank the lord for camera-phones, photogs, and civic-minded individuals who give a shit. Especially considering everything going on in Missouri right now, its kind of cool to hear non-Black people have the back (unsuccessfully) of a young, Black guy.
Because it's been that kind of week, such is the story of 25-year-old Raymond Wilford who according to reports, attempted to avoid a confrontation with an angry, racist, and aggressive shirtless white man as he walked into a mall to meet up with a friend. In more proof that this Black shit really never works out for us (you really can't make this shit up), a mallcop - no Paul Blart - actually maces the Black guy instead for what seems to be no other reason than well, if there's a civil-Black guy and an angry white guy and an altercation ensued, always mace the Black guy because there's at least a 50 percent chance you got the right guy! I mean, the mallcop was actually INFORMED to look for a shirtless white man who was being aggressive and disruptive to a protest happening.
But but wait…why was he maced exactly? Luckily for us, there is a police report!
According to a Seattle police report, the mall cop told officers that when Wilford "took an aggressive step towards him he deployed his pepper spray."
What the fuck is an aggressive step? Did he step really hard? Did he lunge at him? None of the above. According to witness reports there was no aggression nor any actual physical violence. Even the insane, shirtless man didn't do anything short of being a dick. Yet…if you see Black man and there is a disturbance of any sort near him, you take down a Black man.
Given what we're seeing happening lately, I'm actually convinced this is in the security-personnel training manual.
To add insult to injury and to prove that the Black ain't right no matter who comes to your defense, in a 3 minute video captured by an ordinary person, you can hear the pleas of several people indicating that the mall cop had maced and detained the wrong person. I mean, nice non-Black folks are adamantly attempting to get him released. When does that EVER happen? Did the mall cop give a fuck?
Nope. He had no fucks to give. He continued to attempt (read hope) to get away from cameras until he couldn't anymore as he managed to handcuff this young man whose eyes were burning and solely wanted to get some water into his eyes. EVEN AN ACTUAL MOTHERFUCKING COP shows up and yells at the WITNESSES(!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to let the mallcop do his job. Which in this instance is be wrong as a motherfucker and apprehend a person who has done nothing wrong.
THEN TO MAKE THAT EVEN MORE FUCKED UP, another mall cop informs the WITNESSES(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) who are again pleading for the release of the guy who did nothing wrong but who has been handcuffed and detained that the mall is private property and that they cannot follow any longer.
If I may, let me tell you what happened in my estimation. The mallcop fucked up. He also knows it. There's no way he doesn't believe that all of these people got it wrong. But you know what else happened? His pride wouldn't let him admit to being wrong on camera. So he committed fully to the shenanigans. I mean you have maced an innocent individual because of your own personal bias, might as well cuff him and rob him of all dignity in the process, no? So instead of doing the right thing, you continue in your wrongness because people have caught you doing the wrong thing. In the video, never once does he address those people who claim he's got the wrong guy. He just proceeds with his mistake - that he knows he's made mind you - he's in America, when do white people come to the aid of a Black man unless he REALLY didn't do something - because he doesn't know what else to do. According to the news story, Wilford - still detained - was led into the mall to get first aid then released. Which, why does this need to happen in cuffs?
Here's what else is stupid. The chap who actually was the aggressor and instigator? No clue what happened to him. My guess? He said, wow, they really don't have no love for the Black man and stepped the fuck off.
For what it's worth, Wilford took it all in stride:
"I’ve been treated like that all my life, so it kinda brushes off," Wilford, who has two kids, says. "I’m from the South, I’m from New Orleans. I’ve seen the worst of it." He lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and came to Seattle a decade ago "to try to redo my life," he says.
America, Fuck Yeah.
Thanks, Obama.