Last week the U.S. Parks Police and Washington Metropolitan Police released bodycam footage that shows officers attacking and killing Dalaneo Martin, a Black 17-year-old they found asleep in the driver's seat of a vehicle that had been reported stolen.
Upon approaching the car, one officer opened the driver's door, and another entered the car's back seat; officers can be heard yelling, "Police, don't move." The young man attempted to drive off; the officer, still in the back seat, can be heard yelling, "Stop, man, just let me out. Let me go. Stop, or I'll shoot." Multiple gunshots are then immediately heard.
In response to the video, the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, DC, has announced a federal civil rights investigation into the killing in coordination with the FBI Washington Field Office. CPE acknowledges the appropriateness of the action and the speed with which it was taken but wishes to stress that–regardless of any eventual conclusions–investigations into the summary execution of Black people by officers of the state must not be confused with justice.
The officers who killed Dalaneo Martin must be held accountable for his brutal, ruthless, and wholly unnecessary death, as must the culture, systems, and policies that consistently treat the lives of young Black men with such deadly disdain. But even that will not be justice.
The only justice that was ever available to Dalaneo Martin has already been stolen from him, his loved ones, and his community; he should be alive and at home today, not the focus of yet more national outrage over police violence.
Law enforcement officers shoot and kill more than 1,000 people in this country every year; yet more are killed by police using their fists, their tasers, or the weight of their bodies. Black people, especially Black men, are killed by police at rates that far outstrip their numbers in U.S. society. Until that grim reality is a thing of the past, the notion of justice will remain aspirational at best.
We send our deepest condolences to all who must now mourn Dalaneo Martin, along with our wishes for peace and healing. CPE remains wholly committed to advancing the work of racial equity and ultimately toward a future in which such losses will no longer have to be endured.