You Can Get Killed By The Police

By

Bill Berkowitz

(Remembering George Floyd, a 47-year old black man, killed by a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck as Floyd pleads, “I can’t breathe.”)

You can get killed in police custody.
You can get killed sitting in your car.
You can get killed selling cigarettes.
You can get killed holding a toy gun.
You can get killed helping someone in a mall.
You can get killed as an armed guard responding to a call.
You can get killed sitting in your apartment.
You can get killed in your grandma’s backyard.

* Police killed 1,099 people in 2019.
Black people were 24% of those killed,
despite being only 13% of the population.
Police are rarely held accountable for killings.
99% of killings by police from 2013-2019
did not result in officers being charged with a crime.

Many of the dead were unarmed.
Some mentally ill.
You can get killed selling CDs.
You can get killed getting careened around
in the back of a police van.
You can get killed in a jail cell.
You can get killed walking in a mall.

There have always been police killings,
but now there are videos.

You can get killed with your hands up.
You can get killed laying on the ground.
You can get killed leaning against your car.
You can get killed in police custody.
You can get killed by police