As the news of Walter Scott, a 50-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a white South Carolina police officer, Michael T. Slager, found its way to social media outlets, people lamented and praised: lamented for the death of another Black person who was killed by the State and praised North Charleston’s swift response to charge the now-dismissed Slager with murder.

Just as the festering sores of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Renisha McBride, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Anthony Hill were starting to develop a crusty sore over them, the nitpicking of not-quite-healed painful scabs was ripped off by a not-too-patient society that is insistent on inflicting psychological, physical, and social pain on its Black and Brown citizens. Continue reading →