Christmas hope beyond our fears
I suspect the police officer who shot Walter Scott, and the jurors at his trial, were shaped similarly to how I was as a child in North Carolina.
Several times in the last week, I've found myself wide awake in the middle of the night, struggling to make sense of the hung jury in the trial of the former police officer who shot an unarmed Walter Scott. There is video showing Scott being shot in the back as he runs away. If that is not enough to convict, what is?
If you did not pay attention to the trial, one key moment was when the former police officer took the stand and said that Scott's actions left him so fearful that he had no choice but to shoot. And some jurors accepted that argument.
Fear of black men has deep roots in American culture, especially in the South. In colonial South Carolina, there was reason to fear slave revolts. When you oppress someone, they may well try to undo that oppression. They may even simply want to make you pay for it.
