By Judge Wendell Griffen,
Eric Matthew Frein murdered one Pennsylvania state trooper and severely injured a second in September 2014. He was the subject of a massive manhunt and was placed on the FBI 10 Most Wanted List. He was apprehended, captured alive, and is now awaiting trial. Eric Matthew Frein is white.
James Holmes killed 12 people in his murderous shooting attack at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. He was apprehended, captured alive, tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. James Holmes is white.
Dzhokar Tsarnev was involved in the Boston Marathon bombing. Three people were killed and 264 others were wounded in that attack. One police officer was shot to death. Another died of wounds later from the bombing. He was apprehended, captured alive, tried, convicted, and sentenced. Dzhokar Tsarnev is white.
Dylann Roof killed 9 black people at Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC. He was apprehended and captured alive. After his capture the arresting officers stopped and bought Roof a hamburger. He awaits trial on charges for those crimes. Dylann Roof is white.
Timothy McVeigh was the man who delivered a truck bomb that detonated in Oklahoma City, OK, killing 168 people and injuring over 600. McVeigh was apprehended, captured alive, charged with murder, tried, convicted, sentenced to death by lethal injection, and executed by lethal injection. Timothy McVeigh was white.
In 1985 Philadelphia, PA police dropped bombs on a row house occupied by members of the MOVE group. Eleven people were killed, including several women and children. The MOVE victims were black.
Monroe Isadore was a 107 year-old man who was shot to death in his apartment by law enforcement officers who stormed into his house after he would not consent to enter a nursing home. Monroe Isadore was black.
Micah Xavier Johnson was the man identified as the shooter who killed 5 Dallas, TX police officers and wounded several others. He was surrounded. However, the police bombed him to death after a two hour negotiation session. Micah Xavier Johnson was black.
Micah Xavier Johnson was summarily executed after he killed five police officers and wounded several others. But we should not confuse his demise with justice. The mindset within policing that bombed MOVE, shot Isadore, also bombed Johnson to death rather than expend the time, patience, and determination to apprehend and capture him so he could be arrested, charged with mass murder and mayhem, and tried for those crimes.
Will we have the prophetic courage to question how the police treated MOVE, Isadore, and Micah Xavier Johnson versus the way they treat white murder suspects, including white people suspected as killers of police?
Judge Wendell L. Griffen, an Arkansas lawyer, jurist, legal educator, religious leader, and public speaker. For more than three decades, Wendell Griffen has counseled business, military, government, non-profit organizations, and religious institutions about strategic planning, organizational teamwork, development, leadership, and morale, community and client relations, government relations and public policy, as well as legal affairs and litigation management. Follow him @Judggriff
