Monday, May 1, 2017 the world learned of the homicide of Jordan Edwards. Edwards was a 15 year old freshman at Mesquite High School. Before we (the world) learned about who Jordan Edwards was, we were told a story by the Balch Springs Police Department that just didn’t seem right. It seemed to be a far too familiar story of yet another unarmed black male slain by a trigger happy police officer. I am a native of Dallas, Texas and a few of my friends grew up in Balch Springs and some even went to Mesquite High School, so I am very familiar with that suburb. Follow me….
Initially, Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber released a statement on the homicide of Jordan Edwards stating “officers heard gunshots as they were responding to a call of drunken teens about 11pm... during an altercation the vehicle backed down the road toward officers in an aggressive manner”. Monday, May 1, 2017 afternoon Police Chief Haber recanted his original statement after reviewing the police body cam to state “after reviewing the video, I don’t believe that the fatal shooting met our core values”. The officer who is responsible for firing the rifle at a car full of teenagers while fatally shooting one of them has yet to be identified. Dear Balch Springs PD, why are you protecting this murderer?
Who is Jordan Edwards? Reading numerous facebook posts, Instagram posts and many news articles the one thing I keep seeing about Jordan Edwards is how he was an all around great kid. He was a son, a brother, a friend, an elite athlete, a straight A student holding a 3.5 GPA, he was outgoing, kind and had a smile that could light up a room. Jordan Edwards was the type of young man that any parent would love for the child to have as a friend. Any time I hear about a police officer murdering one of us I always get so nervous as I fear and know the police department along with the media will do everything in their power to tarnish our names. They will make us out to be thugs and criminals even if we are not. Any small little thing can be turned into something major to paint the picture that we either 1. Deserved it, or 2. Had it coming. So when I saw the first picture of Jordan Edwards pop up on my phone screen with the title “Texas Teen shot and killed by police” my heart sank. My heart sank because here it is another young person killed, another young person killed at the hands of the police, a life taken too soon. Then I immediately got angry, not even knowing Jordan or his family but I was angry because I knew right then and there trouble was coming. Now the original photo that was posted of Jordan looked to be a family photo and he looked to be younger than 15 years old, maybe about 10 or 11 on the photograph. As bad as it sounds when I saw that picture I immediately got nervous because from what we have all witnessed in the past in the unjust police shootings they release a picture then come back with other pictures that places the victim in compromising situations or pictures that paint them to be something that they are not. We all remember how they did Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown. I spent the entire day at work Monday upset about this murder and upset thinking what would come of this all. I was sad just waiting on the media and the police department to assassinate this young man’s character as they have done our other young brothers in the past, but then a news alert came through to me phone. The news alert read “Police Change story in Honor Student’s shooting”. My eyes grew wide as I immediately started saying “my god my god”. I was shocked, not that he was an honor student, but shocked the police changed their story. My personal belief is the Police Chief Haber felt the heat when they were unable to find anything negative on Jordan Edwards. Once again, we saw this first hand with Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and even Oscar Grant. While they were all great young men who were murdered by bootleg crime watch and police officers, the media were able to dig up negative pasts. This is in no disrespect to these young men at all but we all watched how the media tore down their characters one by one. Later Monday night more photos of Jordan Edwards surfaced, this time more recent photos of him smiling, laughing, and one looked to be a bathroom selfie (innocent teenager pictures).These photos surface only after Balch Springs PD retracted their statements. So here is my question and yes this is a real question, If Balch Springs Police Department were able to find a picture of Jordan Edwards throwing up a “gang sign” which probably is just the sign for Texas or find out through heresay that he stole a piece of gum from the corner store when he was 5 years old, would they have retracted their original lie about what happened? I only ask this because these police departments and media outlets try their hardest to make us seem like we are a damn fool when that isn’t always the case. I know Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black is just a show but yall remember when Poussay was killed by the corrections officer and the prison and the media spent hours trying to make Poussay seem like she was defiant and she was “troubled”. They try their hardest to make us all seem “troubled”. Trayvon Martin was not troubled, he was minding his own business! Mike Brown was not troubled; he was a recent graduate and was on his way to college! Oscar Grant was not troubled; he had some issues in the past but he was working on getting things in order and was a stand up son and father! STOP ASSASSINATING OUR PEOPLE’s CHARACTERS! See Balch Springs yall really dropped the ball on this one! And once again Why are yall protecting this murderer?
Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, why did you feel it was necessary to shoot at a car that was leaving the scene because gun shots rang out? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, why did you feel it was necessary to shoot at the car with a rifle? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, what threat did those teenagers pose on you? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, did you wake up with the intentions of murdering a child that night? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, are you really that weak sauce? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, why did you lie? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, are you really that dumb? Mr. Trigger Happy Cop, what is your got damn problem? WHY WAS HE CARRYING A RIFLE? You were in Balch Springs, a suburb outside of Mesquite, responding to a teenage party, and you really felt the need to bring a whole live rifle? BRUHHHHHH
Balch Springs PD, why did you not review the body cam before opening your mouth believing what Mr. Trigger Happy Cop said?
I have so many questions. I am upset, I am disgusted I am pissed off. I am even more upset because although the police department has changed their account of events, the reality is this officer will probably not be charged as he should. Jordan’s brother watched him die in that car all because a cop wanted to flex his weak a** muscle and shoot at some kids. WHY??????? WHY???? WHY?????? They were leaving the party to get out of harm’s way and drove right into it because of that weak cop.
My heart hurts so much for Jordan Edwards’ parents, family and friends during this time. I wish I could jump through the computer screen and hug his parents as they wipe tears from their eyes. He didn’t deserve that, none of our slain ones deserve that.
I’m so upset I can’t even finish this….I’m out
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