Dear Editor,
Now that the trial for the murder George Floyd is behind us, I wish I could say it’s time to move forward. But we have two major training days of incidents involving two senior law enforcement officers from the same county in Minnesota in a year. There is no greater sign for the need police reform in America today and the US senate needs to act now.
Brooklyn Center female police officer Kim Potter “accidentally” shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Kim Potter should spare our nation the drama of a second trial by pleading guilty to the charge of manslaughter. With such a bold statement I wish to establish my credential’s
I grew up in the mean streets of Buffalo, New York where at the age of 16, 15 kids I knew were either dead or in criminal justice system. The star running back for our football team was jogging by a crime scene and shot two times in the back by a police officer and killed.
At 17, I had created Student Forms against School Crimes and Violence, a White House funded group that paid 200 students in Buffalo New York school system. We were mentored by General Bass, the director of “PAL” Police Athletic League”. There was the great peace in 1972, where the city of Buffalo went six months without a single murder.
In the 1990s Doctor Joseph Lowery President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference nicknamed me the Gunslinger for my work on the police brutality in the corrupt criminal justice system. Jerome Anderson vs the state of Florida, is one of the only cases in the history were layperson made legal arguments hearsay evidence, ineffective legal counsel during sentencing. The Florida state Supreme Court decline the answer the question and squashed his conviction.
In 2005 the city of Los Angeles was expecting Rodney King type riots because of a police shooting. I was regular call in guest on the Jesse Lee Peterson radio show, a nationally syndicated black conservative program. I told the people of LA that, “the sword of the truth has two edges and both sides bleed.”
On nightline that night a member of the Woo Tang Klan repeated my words, “black on black violence and police brutality are the head and the tail of the same coin.”
Sometimes the greatest accomplishment a person can have is stopping something bad from happening. Kim Potter has that power now! She can call for peace on the streets of our nation as we move forward with police reform.
I don’t believe a jury would ever convict her yet she must atone for her mistake. Clearly she would save tens of thousands of her peers from having to deal with protests across our nation over the coming months. This case can be over in weeks if she makes a plea deal with the state attorney and take responsibility for her actions.
During this most troubling time for the men and women in blue, she lived her life in law enforcement protecting and serving the people of her community. I am calling for her to commit an act of selflessness for the greater good of the people of the United States of America. Nothing good will come from a trial
Ted Harris
Midway Ga.