Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about extrajudicial executions.

Wikipedia says, “An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution) is the killing of a person by governmental authorities or individuals without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process.” It is illegal and considered a crime in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Geneva Convention, and the American Convention on Human Rights. Oftentimes the United States points to the frequency of extrajudicial killings in other countries as one of many reasons for sanctions or even regime change. It defies our cherished right to a fair trial by one’s peers and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Unless of course, you have something other than a white body.

The United States has been a perpetrator of extrajudicial executions for its entire existence, and even before. In fact, our country’s success and rise to world prominence owes much to this practice inside our own borders (we won’t even talk about elsewhere in the world – drones anyone?). We committed genocide on the indigenous populations which is considered a crime against humanity. Since the abolition of slavery, extrajudicial execution has been a way to control black bodies. Lynching and other forms of deadly brutality were condoned and even celebrated.

Today, governmental bodies such as police and sheriffs’ departments continue this tradition by regularly executing black people and they rationalize the killings for the slimmest of reasons: selling loose cigarettes, having a legally registered gun in the car, having a toy gun, running away, laying on the ground, knowing someone who committed a crime, looking like someone else, being asleep in bed, and so on. These executions are excused and condoned by the governmental bodies in charge – there has been no due process or legal proceeding. The president of the United States wholeheartedly supports the institutions and individuals involved. There is another type of killing that is now condoned by the president and governmental bodies and that is the murder of people practicing their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and express their opposition to extrajudicial executions. Any white bodies that are harmed are simply collateral damage.  However, these killings are only sanctioned if the ‘alleged’ killer is white.

This is the United States. This has always been the United States. To deny this reality is to choose ignorance and duplicity over truth. There is no choice but to work towards ending this collective practice and stop this continuing crime against humanity. I wish I had a snappier ending to this, but I don’t. This shit has got to stop.

Black Lives Matter