Local Man Wants Previous 15 Years Before Police Shooting for Context
By: Joseph Franklin
Tags: Politics, Police, BlackLivesMatter, Protest, Conservatives

Jeff Dawson was a local man who showed up at the protest. He wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. He was not aware of the recent police shooting that’d rocked Wright Idaho. Two days prior, the video was captured from a living room window of Wright Police gunning down James Smith. Smith was fifteen, unarmed, and running away.

Jeff had not known but was standing amidst the protestors, out side the Wright Police Station, just a walk from his porch. I was there to witness the whole interaction between Tuff and a young woman related to the deceased.

“What’s going on?” Jeff had asked at the back of the crowd.

I was going to answer him, but a young woman beat me to it. “The cops murdered my cousin.” The young woman spoke with reserve tank righteous anger.

“Well,” Jeff widened his eyes with genuine surprise, stared toward the station. The young woman turned back, joined the chant No Justice, No Peace.

Jeff was a retired welder, still wore the Dickie Overalls just out of habit. I was amazed that he leaned in, tapped the young woman’s shoulder, and asked her this:

“Were they in danger?”

The cousin was taken aback. “What she asked?” She walked away from the street, onto the sidewalk to light a cigarette, Jeff followed her to clarify his question. I admit I sidestepped to listen, watch.

“Were the police in danger?” He asked. Okay, I know, free and open discussion, but I considered my own family, my cousin Luke, I might’ve been more hostile than this young woman, but from what I came to know, she was just exhausted of the phenomenon of state violence, had been folded weak in the middle, was tired of post hoc justification. It isn’t my place to question her response, why she was down right polite. I wanted Jeff to feel the loss, the pain — it was infuriating that any residents of Wright were unaware.

She stood there slouched, just exhausted, puffing her mild, swashing the question around her brain. I saw in her eyes a temporary surrender, that she would again claim the activist passion, but as of now, this man, this moment, she’d cried every last tear so just stared with dry petrified astonishment. The back and fourth that proceeded was akin to a punch-drunk mother giving in to her relentless toddler’s whys at the week’s end.

“He was running away,” she sighed.

“Okay,” Jeff answered, reformulating his inquiry. “Why was he running?”

“He was scared, man.”

“Did he break the law?”

“No, he was coming home from a friend’s. Got a general there’s a suspicious kid in my neighborhood call from a lady, who actually said suspicious man.”

“So he broke into her house, or vandalized her porch, or something?” Jeff asked. I couldn’t believe he did, but the young lady was just a robot at this point — had been volunteering her past two days organizing a proper response. Only I heard this unreal tit for tat.

“No, he was just walking home.”

“But he and his friend were breaking the law?”

“No. They’d been studying together.”

“But that day leading up, he broke the law, cops were already looking for him?”

“No he was at home, driven to his friend. Just studying and spending time with family.”

“But he has a rap sheet a mile long, is known by the police?”

“No, he never had any criminal history”

“Just hung around with thugs?”

“No”

“But he’s just never been caught but nonetheless?”

“He was a straight A and B student, played soccer.”

“I’m just asking if he was a problem child, growing up?”

“No, he was a gifted child and helped his single mother in raising his siblings.”

“Okay. So he was a horrible baby, sociopathic tendencies, breaking toys?”

“No. He was a smiling, laughing baby. Never cried. Happy”

“So he gave his mother trouble in birth, almost killed her, etcetera?”

The young lady considered this question with fuzzy remembrance. “You know what, yes. Aunt Maggie did have quite severe medical conditions with James.”

Jeff looked finally vindicated. “We need to teach these men you don’t run from the cops.”

The young lady knew he was leaving, her last embers of energy now smoke. I wish she’d of let him have it. If I were a braver man I’d of socked him. I was still startled by this having ever transpired. Jeff just meandered on home. I went home too, apparently just in time to not get pepper sprayed by riot control.