We are living in a strange era. Even before Corona gave its way away, there comes yet another tsunamic wave knocking on our cellphones’ news channel. And it involves a rather difficult topic to talk about: races. But let us meet the challenge.
I was born in America, grew up in South Korea till high school graduation there, then came back to America in 1997. I lived in Wisconsin, New York, California, Georgia, Texas, and Michigan. Then I came to Alaska in 2015, May. I’ve lived in America for more than two decades, more than half of my life.
I went to a law school in Michigan, and passed Alaska Bar exam in 2018. So perhaps it is fair to say I know a little more about law than average people.
In criminal law, there are two kinds of illegal homicides: murder and manslaughter. Murder is intentional, illegal deprivation of a human life. Manslaughter is, more of a mistake that led to death of a human being. These are the rough definitions of two crimes.
In Minnesota, a tragic incident happened. There was an African American gentleman accused of using counterfeit money, if I recall correctly. So someone called police officers and they came to arrest the gentleman. There was a use of force by the officers, as some filmed the incident and published it online. The gentleman passed away. And we are all sorry.
In law, there is what’s called qualified immunity doctrine. One application of the doctrine basically states that when a police officer uses force to arrest a person and if that person gets injured, the police officer gets immunity from civil lawsuit. The rationale behind the doctrine is that we, as a society, do not want to punish police officers for doing their jobs. In other words, if police officers get punished for injuries that they caused during their official duty of arresting potentially dangerous people, then such policy will have a chilling effect on police officers. Meaning, police officers will be afraid to do their jobs effectively, for the fear of punishment. And that may lead to a society where police officers can no longer provide safety to the people.
After the incident in Minnesota, there came protests and demonstrations nationwide. Many people demanded justice, and decried perceived racism. Let us defer the race topic for now, as it requires more calming down.
So, many people demanded justice for the gentleman who passed away. As of writing this article, the police officer who caused his death was charged with murder and manslaughter. Now, let us be rational and reasonable, as opposed to being emotional and angry. Can we do that? Let us try.
The standard for a criminal trial is “beyond reasonable doubt.” It roughly translates to 90% certainty in the minds of jurors. With this standard, are we all sure that the police officer intended to deprive the gentleman’s life? If you ask me, I would find that very difficult a proposition to believe. Then was it a mistake for the officer, did he use excessive force to arrest the gentleman? That is more likely. Because, it is really difficult to imagine that the officer intended to extinguish the gentleman’s life, on a broad daylight, on a busy street, while every pedestrian was watching, even filming the whole incident.
To be objective and fair, let us first admit that most of us were not there, so we have limited information. For all we know from the filmed footage, pictures, and news articles, the gentleman’s nickname was a gentle giant. So, perhaps the gentleman was a well-built man with big muscles. Perhaps the police officers felt it necessary to use more-than-average physical force in arresting him. Again, I wasn’t there, but I can’t help but exploring a possibility of reasonable doubt. Why? It is because the Minnesota incident seems to be causing some group-thinking on a national scale and I am concerned about it.
Now we are ready to discuss the race aspect of this whole issue at hand. I have lived in America for 20 some years, so I have met many people, been to many places in America. Some of my best friends are African Americans, European Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Arabs, Jews, Mixed Races, Asian Indians, Natives, all of them. And from what I have observed, in all honesty, I have not seen that much racism, racial hatred, or racial discrimination. People talk racial jokes, but they’re jokes, and they’re meant to generate laughter. My friends and I, we racial jokes to each other and we just laugh it off. That’s not racism.
In the media, we hear a lot about this “white” police ending the life of a “black” man. I have to object to such characterization. I don’t think the original incident was about race at all. It just happened that the officer is Caucasian and the suspect of a crime is African American. If it had been some different combination of races, like Asian to Caucasian, etc., I don’t think it would have made into a headline.
Let us Calm.
