“Why don’t you care about the white ppl killed by cops. Talk about Tony Timpa”, says disingenuous white people that think we don’t care about white ppl.

Let’s talk about this white victim b/c the details of this case reveal some issues they don’t want to discuss.

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In August 2016 Tony Timpa, suffering a psychotic episode, called the police for help. When they arrived at the scene Timpa had already been placed in handcuffs by a security guard. Police immediately pinned him to the ground w/ a knee on his back while he cried out 4 help.

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Rather than help him they continue to mock him for 30 minutes, even after he was dead. They didn’t even realize he was dead until he was loaded onto a gurney. They insisted he was asleep.

But why was there no public outrage for this victim like there is for black ppl?

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First, this incident wasn’t widely reported. There was no live-streamed video of the event to go viral. The Dallas Police initiated a department wide cover up of the event and refused release of body cam footage for 3 years. Lies flowed from the dept. from the top, down.

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Despite a lack of evidence of excessive force incl. no video, despite a coroner report citing homicide caused by heart attack due to physical restraint and cocaine, and despite public outcry, the 3 officers were still charged with a crime - a misdemeanor of deadly conduct.

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George Floyd’s murderers weren’t brought to justice even with all of this happening until it reached a point of outraged where the demand from the public was too great to ignore. That’s a massive difference between how these two similar incidences occur.

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But one thing that all victims have in common is that the police will always shield their own no matter who they kill. Those 3 officers had their case thrown out and are back to work as police now. The body cam footage wasn’t released until July 2019 and it’s horrifying.

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No one who says #BlackLivesMatter are saying only black lives matter. We are well aware that everyone is at risk from the police but black people face 5x more risk than white people. And even when police are caught red-handed, it’s very unlikely justice prevails.

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If white people really want justice 4 white victims of police, they need 2 care about black people as well and they need to understand that justice isn’t the only goal. They need to understand the systemic issues at play that allow police to act as criminals with impunity.

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We’re only as strong as the most marginalized among us. Until black people can walk outside w/out fear of cops, none of us can.

Story & video about Tony below:

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2019/07/31/you-re-gonna-kill-me-dallas-police-body-cam-footage-reveals-the-final-minutes-of-tony-timpa-s-life/

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