Separate and Unequal (Blog Post 4)

Observation: I came across an article about Renisha McBride, a 19 year old girl who was shot in the face after knocking on door of a house in Newborn Heights, neighborhood near Detroit Michigan.
Original Article

Renisha was involved in a car accident earlier in the night. McBride hit a parked car and was injured, bleeding from the head. McBrides cell phone was apparently dead.  People nearby in a home came to help her and the neighbor went into their home to call 911 and came back and Renisha was gone. Renisha was injured and wandered into Dearborn Heights looking for help. She walked to a mans porch looking for help and knocked on his door. Police reports say that Renisha McBride was shot in face, and the 54 year old shooter claims that he thought Renisha was breaking into his home and the shotgun had gone off accidently. No charges have been filled, but an investigation is currently going underway into looking into what happened. The shooters attorney, Cheryl Carpenter is saying the shooting was justified.  "I'm confident when the evidence comes it will show that my client was justified and acted as a reasonable person would who was in fear for his life," Carpenter said.

Many questions come into play when asking about what happened that night.

1. Can an “accidental” shooting even within the stand your ground law be justified in this case with Renisha who was unarmed and seeking help?
1. Stand your ground laws give individuals the right to use deadly force if they are using force to prevent imminent death, sexual assault, or believe force is necessary to defend themselves from imminent danger.
2. Was this shooting racial profiling?
1. Dearborn Heights is known as a neighborhood with a higher socioeconomic index and predominately white. The neighborhood is 83% white (non-hispanic or latino) and almost 8% black.
3. What does this say about how white perceive young black youth?
1. Renisha McBride, Jonathan Ferrell, Treyvon Martin to say the least all were killed.
1. Renisha- Homeowner
2. Jonathan Ferell- 24 year old a former football player of Flordia A&M  who was in a car accident and came to home of a women who called 911 after she hear Jonathan knocking on her down asking for help. 3 Police came to the scene and Jonathan ran towards them seeking help. They fired a taser which was unsuccessful and Randall Kerrick, an officer shot 12 rounds at Jonathan Fuller killing him on the scene. Police reports mention that Kerrick believed Fuller was trying to assault him.
3. Treyvon Martin- Treyvon Martin looked supcious while walking in a neighborhood and was shot by Gerorge Zimmerman out of “self-defense.”

Too often we see African Americans getting harmed especially from police or white people. Will minorities specifically black people just always be at the wrong place at the wrong time?
http://www.theroot.com/photos/2013/06/unarmed_black_men_shot_by_police_20_sad_stories.html