Who was Daunte Wright? No, Mr. Wright was not the lawyer defending the accused during the most racially polarizing murder trial in recent history. He was not the judge presiding over the case. He did not sit on the jury as one of the accused’s peers. Daunte was not one of the many heart-wrenchingly emotional witnesses who watched helplessly for 9 minutes and 20+ seconds. He was not the prosecutor struggling with the case that should be a slam dunk. No, he is, or was, just another unarmed young man who dared to drive while Black.
Even in the midst of the Derek Chauvin trial, this name is being spoken on the lips of tired Americans and their global counterparts. Mr. Wright was killed when he was allegedly pulled over for an expired registration tag and it was determined that he had an active warrant for an offense involving a weapon. The officer responsible for killing him is Officer Kimberly Potter, who allegedly pulled out her police issued handgun to help subdue Mr. Wright, instead of her taser, by mistake. The list of items that resemble a gun when in the hands of Black people just continues to grow. Joining the line-up of ridiculous gun look-a-likes that includes cell phones, sandwiches, and skittles, is Officer Potter's taser.
Racism and murder have long gone hand in hand in America, especially among those who deem Black people as less than. Yes, we are aware of the narrative that attempts to dismiss this reality by reminding us that Black-on-Black crime exists. There are no “buts” to insert here because the truth that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up is that the greatest threat to Black men today is a terrorist group, that has too long been protected by a badge.
Over the past year, we have all been constantly reminded of that truth, as we have marched through the most potent racial revolution since the 1960s. I have seen a frighteningly increasing number of names added to the many memes and social media posts honoring the victims of cases of police brutality, racial profiling, and mistaken identity turned murder, over the course of that year. On Sunday, April 11, 2021, the name Daunte Wright was added to that number.
I am not qualified to argue that the Daunte Wright case was a murder involving race as a motive. After living fifty-plus years in this society, far be it for me to analyze the intricacies of the human psyche. In fact, I don't even believe any analysis by me in this case would be fair because I am neither judge, jury, nor executioner. No law degrees line my walls. However, I do believe it is a case that involves race as a motivating factor in the treatment of Mr. Wright after the stop occurred... no degree necessary to form that hypothesis. If at any point, this belief became one shared by any of the officers involved in the stop, and they failed to speak up, that was the moment in which they all became accountable for his death.
To take the discussion one step further, as is often my nature, I would argue that the principle of qualified immunity will likely have no role in this case, but it has been integral in the cases of so many victims' families who may never see justice. Because of the language in the definition of the principle, lawyers may easily skate around a conviction. Let's do a little lingo breakdown, shall we?
Why We Must Watch Our Language
Daunte Wright is just another example of why qualified immunity is a horrible concept in relation to Black people. In this country, qualified immunity is a legal principle – not law – granting government officials immunity from civil suits. The language contained in the definition from which this is taken includes the phrase, “performing discretionary functions”, but it’s the “unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated…constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known” for me.
In the context of policing, discretion means that officers can rely on [protection by the qualified immunity principle] because in some situations, they must make moral judgments that will impact the people they are policing, but who are the people who are given the right to make such decisions? Whoever they are, history has shown that they leave to question their reasonableness, which is referred to in the definition as being an important piece of the whole qualified immunity pie.
Next, let's look at plaintiff's rights. How about that one that says they have a right to not die and become a plaintiff in the first place. Translation, after an unarmed person of color is gunned down, it is too late for the actual plaintiff to file a complaint that some government official has been unreasonable in their decision making. Sometimes, the language is everything.
Why do I believe this case will not involve qualified immunity? I'm glad you asked!
On its face, qualified immunity is little more than protection from civil lawsuits by people who are simply a little peeved with government officials. It is intended to be, by definition, protection from legal action for behavior based on a combination of discretionary use and reasonableness by people in positions of authority. The decision to pull out a taser is a conceivably reasonable one, but how do you prove the reasonableness of an action that is so subjective? If it can't be proven, why is it even included in an equation that could mean life or death for someone? The problem is that qualified immunity is an institution that was grown from the roots of racism and for the subjugation of people of color across the spectrum.
Officer Potter will likely not even be convicted of manslaughter if she has a reasonably experienced attorney. Despite this, she will live with the horror of her split-second mishap for the rest of her life. That is probably punishment enough.
Elizabeth Thomas is an educator, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, and change agent. She is the owner of Latter Rain Publishing, LLC., the founder of Queen Things Online Magazine, and a partner at Chaotic Kreatives Marketing and Promotions. Find her on social media at:
https://www.facebook.com/dueseasonwriters, https://www.twitter.com/EssentialEme, https://www.instagram.com/essentialeme/
Comments