Justice Denied

Trayvon Martin.  Michael Brown Jr.  Tamir Rice.  Eric Garner.  How many more must die before justice will be done?

I am deeply saddened today by the fact that no charges will be laid against the officers who basically choked an unarmed man to death.

Eric Garner was no threat.  He had made clear that he had been harassed previously and he just wanted it to stop.  The NYPD officers used an ILLEGAL hold on him, which triggered a health crisis that ultimately caused his death.

It's not just black people who are in apparent danger from the police.  It's everyone.  As I've written previously, there have been far too many incidents where police action has caused someone to be injured or killed and the officers involved get a slap on the wrist or are not charged at all.

Canada has had its fair share.  These are just a few.
Paul McKinnon, run over by a speeding police car.
Richard Barnabé, beaten into a coma after breaking a church window.
Marcellus François, shot and killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Fredy Villanueva, shot as police were trying to arrest his brother.
Robert Dziekański, died after being tasered at the Vancouver airport.
Nicolas Thorne-Belance, died after a speeding police car collided with his father's car.  He was FIVE YEARS OLD.

I will also lay blame on the convoluted and too-lenient justice system.  Case in point: Guy Turcotte, a doctor in a bitter divorce battle with his wife, killed his two kids and tried to poison himself.  He was tried, declared to have been not mentally competent and sentenced to time in a mental institution.  The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court but Turcotte has since been allowed free on bail until a new trial is ready.  How is this justice?

The system is broken, and will remain that way until people decide that it's time for a change.  A new generation of lawmakers and enforcers needs to make it right.