The Tamir Rice Killing

Was It Race Related?

By Lynn A. Granata

In November 2014, a 12 year old African American boy was shot and killed by a white police officer in a Cleveland, Ohio playground. He was brutally murdered because he was brandishing a toy gun. The policeman who killed him was not indicted yesterday on any charges. The Ohio grand jury found no crime was committed by the police officer.

What can you say about this? Okay, Tamir Rice had a toy gun, policemen can and will if necessary draw their gun because they feel it's better to be safe than sorry, even if it isn't a real lethal weapon. A 12 year old, well exactly isn't always culpable of doing this, because today so many juveniles have committed crimes that were on par with that if which an adult could be capable of. Tamir would point a toy gun at a police officer. So was it that he inadvertently committed suicide by cop? I think the policeman was not going to chance a situation with a toy gun vs. a real one. Cleveland has one of the highest crime rates per capita. But the boy's family believes it was race related, nonetheless. It's a difficult argument because the police do have a right to use excessive force when necessary and the boy shouldn't have been messing around with a toy weapon. Parents are to blame sometimes in such a tragic incident. They should've taught the boy not to point a gun at a policeman. So that is why he wasn't indicted on any charges. Was it race related? The simple answer is no.