Officer Michael Slager was charged with shooting and killing Walter Scott during a traffic stop. According to police reports, the shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped Scott in his Mercedes-Benz due to a broken taillight.
The event escalated when Slager reported that Scott scuffled with Officer Slager, took his stun gun, then fled into a grassy lot. Slager then pursued Scott into the grassy lot and fearing for his life, fired his gun. Reporting on the radio, the five-year veteran of the force said, "Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my taser."
Although this was what was self-reported by Officer Slager in the police report, a video of the confrontation surfaced on Tuesday that revealed a significantly different story.
The video depicts the 50-year-old African American Scott unarmed, with taser wires hanging from his body. Something happened that caused Scott to run and the Caucasian Officer Slager to pull his gun. Then Slager fired eight shots from approximately 15 feet at the unarmed, fleeing Scott. He was struck five times, three times in the back, once in the buttocks, and once in the ear — with at least one bullet entering his heart. Scott was pronounced dead at the scene.
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And if that proves to be true, these moving pictures in video format have forever changed the words written in the next chapter of Officer Slager's story. These pictures, which have generated thousands of words of response, will affect more than just him.
These pictures might remind us of the heartbreak present in the loss of life. These pictures might haunt Scott's children as the last images they have of their father. These pictures might solidify arguments about injustice and speculation about white privilege. These pictures might harden the hearts of those who sympathize with the present system.
But these pictures will not resurrect Walter Scott. These thousands of words will not bring Scott back home to his fiancée. These pictures will not stop the tears from falling off his four children's faces. These words will not change the past.
The written word is a powerful medium that can inform and influence. Rudyard Kipling compared words to a powerful drug, able to influence. Aldous Huxley said words are like x-rays, able to pierce through anything. But John Whittier poignantly said that of all words, these are the saddest: 'It might have been.' Because ultimately, actions speak louder than words.
Inevitably, there will be a multitude of words, like these, written over the coming days. Words that cry out for justice. Words that advocate for the system. Words that seek to make sense of this tragedy.
But perhaps the greatest word will be the one not spoken by you. Instead, the greatest word might come from the mouth of someone you are listening to. Instead of trying to make sense of a situation you have only read about, you can listen to the words of someone that has lived it out their entire life.
Maybe those words come from a police officer that tries to maintain order for the sake of your life. Or maybe those words come from an African American that lives in a culture that is out of order, creating fear in their life.
Hopefully your actions can be a picture that is worth more than a thousand words, but vividly displays the Word (John 1). He loves in both word and deed. May we do the same.
Posted By: Jeni Fa
Friday, April 10th 2015 at 7:46PM
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