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The United States continues to be separate and unequal in so many ways. Justice, far too often, is applied in an inequitable fashion and basic privileges often afforded to white men, 2015 be damned, just aren't given to black men of the same age and background.
When 62-year-old Clarence Daniels went to shop at his local Florida Walmart, he had no idea that he would soon be assaulted by another shopper and violently restrained by onlookers. Carrying a legally concealed firearm, properly holstered underneath his jacket, which he was licensed to do, Clarence Daniels, a black man, was spotted in the parking lot by Michael Foster, a white man 20 years his junior.
Foster follows Daniels into the Walmart, chokes him from behind in front of children and bystanders, wrestles him violently to the ground, and is soon joined by other white onlookers who come to help Foster restrain Daniels—in which they take his gun and wait for police to arrive.
During this entire ordeal, Daniels, according to onlookers and the police report, screamed and pleaded over and over again that he was a licensed gun owner permitted to carry his weapon, but his pleas were ignored.
See the video for yourself below the fold. The distant version lasts for 51 seconds, then the closeup angle begins at 0:51.
While Foster was later arrested for this assault, the other men who restrained Clarence Daniels weren't and the underlying issue isn't being addressed: After being unjustly profiled as criminals, innocent black boys and men are being confronted, assaulted, and murdered by citizens and police alike in this country.
Walking home from the convenience store, Trayvon Martin was racially profiled by George Zimmerman who was so bothered by a young black boy walking through his neighborhood that he not only called 911, but ignored their requests to remain in his car so that he could weave in and out of apartments, armed with a loaded pistol, to confront the teenager. His blackness made a simple walk home into a potential danger in the mind of Zimmerman.
Doing nothing more than talking on the phone and peacefully/legally holding an airgun, which was for sale inside of Walmart, a shopper lied and told 911 that John Crawford was loading a real weapon and pointing it at customers. He wasn't. Seconds later police shot and killed Crawford, who was doing nothing wrong or illegal whatsoever. His blackness, in essence, made a legal act into some suspicious.
What happened to Clarence Daniels isn't an isolated incident, but a part of a pattern of racism in this country which continues in spite of many advances. Legally, he could've pulled that firearm out and began shooting in self-defense, but you and I know that had he done that, he very well could've been called a murderer and Foster a hero for confronting him.
Those little kids could've been shot and killed. Clarence Daniels could've been shot and killed in the struggle for his own weapon.
While it's a beautiful thing that this nation elected and re-elected its first black president, in mainstream America, the Trayvons and John Crawfords and Clarence Daniels of our nation aren't really feeling the love.
Originally posted to shaunking on Thu Jan 22, 2015 at 01:11 PM PST.
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