Columbus, Ohio cops shot and killed twenty-year-old Donovan Lewis, an unarmed Black man, this week during a nighttime raid while he was in bed.
The police burst into Lewis’ apartment with dogs to serve Lewis with arrest warrants on charges of domestic violence, assault, and improper handling of a firearm.
In body-camera footage of Tuesday’s shooting released by authorities, a Columbus cop pushes open a bedroom door and immediately fires at Lewis as he sits up in bed. They then order him to crawl out of bed and then handcuff him to it. He died on his way to the hospital.
Between shooting and handcuffing Lewis, the cops told him to “stop resisting arrest.”
Was Lewis holding a gun when the cop shot him? No, he was not and the cop didn’t take enough time to notice as he shot as soon as the door opened.
The lawyers representing the cop who shot Lewis said that police officers “are forced to make split-second decisions” when faced with “volatile encounters in dangerous situations.” The only one making it a volatile encounter and a dangerous situation was the cop. This cop’s “split-second decision” was the wrong one.
The police chief said Lewis may have had a vape pen or electronic cigarette in his hand, though it’s not seen in the video. Still, vape pens and electronic cigarettes are not guns. They don’t look anything like guns. Now we can add vape pens with cell phones and tasers for items cops mistake for guns.
Nighttime raids are costing tragic losses of lives. Minneapolis cops killed Amir Locke while he was sleeping on a couch during a no-knock raid several months ago. In March 2020, Louisville cops shot and killed Breonna Taylor during one of their nighttime raids, and she wasn’t even the person they were looking for. What are the police going to do next, shoot unarmed black people while they’re on the toilet?
According to a 2019 study by Northwestern University, Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White Americans. The rates are higher in Columbus where Black people are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White people.
Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man, was shot four times by a Columbus cop while leaving a friend’s house in 2020. Last year, Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black 16-year-old, was shot by a Columbus cop outside her home. The city had to pay out $10 million for the killing of Hill but an investigation let Bryant’s shooter go.
The Black Lives Matter movement is just as important today as when it rose after the murder of George Floyd. Black lives still matter and it still needs to be said.
Music note: I listened to the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. You should too.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
The white Highland Park shooter killed seven people and injured 46 (at this time). The police took him alive.
On May 14 of this year, a white gunman murdered ten black people at Tops supermarket in Buffalo. The police took him alive.
In 2015, white Dylann Roof shot and killed nine black parishioners inside a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The police took him alive and treated him to lunch at Burger King.
In March of last year, a white gunman murdered six Asian women at spas in the Atlanta area. Police took him alive.
In 2015, inspired by phony videos produced by a right-wing outlet claiming Planned Parenthood clinics were selling baby body parts, a white shooter attacked an abortion clinic in Colorado Springs and murdered three people. Police took him alive.
A white gunman murdered 12 at a theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012, killing 12. He was taken alive.
In 2011, a white shooter killed six in Tucson, Arizona, and injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and several others. Police took him alive.
Racist right-wing whacko rancher Cliven Bundy and his heavily-armed white militia had a standoff with police in 2014 over some stupid right-wing bullshit. Guess what. They were all taken alive.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old white punk-ass beyotch, killed three at a Black Lives Matter protest and the cops initially drove right past him.
George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by police after trying to spend a $20 counterfeit bill.
Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman, was shot eight times and murdered by police while she was sleeping after they broke into her home at the wrong address, looking for a person they already had in custody.
Rayshard Brooks, an unarmed black male, was shot in the back by police after they found him sleeping in his car.
In 2014, Cleveland Police murdered Tamir Rice, an unarmed black 12-year-old boy, for playing with a toy gun.
Philando Castile, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop while reaching into the glove compartment to comply with the cops’ request for his vehicle registration.
Botham Jean, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by a cop in his own apartment after the cop walked in thinking she was in her apartment and he was a burglar.
And last week, Jayland Walker was shot 60 times and killed by police in Akron, Ohio. Guess what. He was an unarmed black man.
It’s believed the Akron police shot at Walker around 90 times which is more shots than the Highland Park murderer got off (75). The Akron Police tried to put more bullets into one black man than the Highland Park mass shooter tried to put into a crowd.
Cops don’t seem to believe black lives matter, but white murderers’ lives do.
Music note: I listened to Blondie, The Black Keys, M.I.A, and The Arcs.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
Eight cops in Akron, Ohio shot a 25-year-old unarmed black man last week…60 times. That is not a typo. They shot the young man SIXTY FUCKING TIMES. We may find out later the number is greater than 60.
Jayland Walker fled from the police during a routine traffic stop. He drove away, then abandoned his vehicle and ran for his life. The cops say he shot at them first, firing one shot, but he didn’t have his gun on him when they recovered his body. They found one unloaded gun in his car next to a fully-loaded magazine.
Walker didn’t have a criminal record and other than the gun, the cops didn’t find anything suspicious or illegal in his car. They say they pulled him over for an equipment and traffic violation. So, why would he have shot at the police? Since the gun was unloaded, did it just contain the one bullet he shot or did he remove the clip after the shot? If so, where is that clip, because the clip the cops found was fully loaded. Or did he fire at the cops, remove the clip, then add one more bullet to it. I haven’t heard that any other ammunition was found on him or in the vehicle. This is not making a lot of sense to me. For eight cops and an entire department that needs to get its story straight, they’re doing a shitty job of making shit up.
A video of the shooting has been released, but Akron Police have not released all of the bodycam videos. Why is that? The chief of police says he didn’t see any evidence that the cops’ lives were ever threatened.
It’s up to prosecutors to decide to charge the eight cops or not, but cops are rarely charged in incidents like this. Prosecutors may use the one shot the cops claim Walker fired as evidence their lives were in danger and a reason not to prosecute…despite the fact that if you divide the 60 shots, each cop shot an unarmed Jayland Walker 7.5 times.
Walker wore a ski mask when he ran for his life. Defenders of the police have used that as an acceptable excuse for the police’s actions. Currently trending on Twitter from racist goons are “JaylandWalkerShotFirst, #JaylandShotFirst, and “JaylandGotJustice. This is not justice.
Wearing a ski mask and running from the police should not warrant a death sentence. Even firing once at cops doesn’t justify them shooting the suspect 60 times. You know the cops didn’t hit the suspect with every shot, so if they shot him 60 times, how many shots did they fire? I’m pretty sure the cops keep an inventory of their bullets so they should have already provided an answer for that question.
There are protests in Akron over this. Authorities have called for a “state of emergency” in the city. I think for a lot of its citizens, Akron has been in a state of emergency for a very long time.
Music note: I listened to Incubus, Coheed & Cambria, and The Hives while drawing today.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
First off, for most people who support and chant “defund the police,” it’s not literally about eliminating police departments. Second, despite what fuckers like Tucker will repeatedly tell you, President Biden has NEVER expressed support for “defunding the police” or eliminating police. Even though it’s on public record, Republicans keep lying about it.
A lot of Democrats have criticized the slogan and movement. Despite that, Republicans have used it against them and will continue to do so. Fuck facts, right? They’re Republicans.
“Defund the Police” is mostly a slogan while there are more serious efforts to reduce funding and restructure police departments in addition to redistributing police responsibilities to other government agencies. Slogans that are more than three words just are not as catchy. Ever been to a Trump rally? “Lock her up,” “space force,” “build the wall,” “send them back,” “save whitey,” “I got crabs,” are all catchy and extremely limited. For the Black Lives Matter movement, “defund the police” is catchier than “reduce police department budgets so they stop buying tanks and rocket launchers.”
A 2020 study by The Washington Post showed that since 1960, around the time cops were buying water hoses and billy clubs for crowd control on black Americans protesting against discrimination and for civil rights, police spending has increased 800 percent while there’s been a minuscule drop in the national crime rate.
As for redistributing responsibilities for the police, why are they in charge of homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse? Did you know that one in four people killed by cops suffers from severe mental illness? Taking money from cops so they can’t buy bazookas, and giving it to more capable agencies, like mental health counseling, is a good idea. Maybe we can chant “demilitarize the police?” Too many syllables?
In case you’re a Republican, a syllable is a unit of pronunciation having more than one vowel sound without surrounding consonants. “Demilitarize” has five syllables. Notice that each syllable has at least one vowel. Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, u. Tomorrow, we’ll do consonants. Anyway, nobody’s going to chant it.
Most people don’t support defunding the police or even reallocating resources and responsiblities. But most people don’t understand what they’re talking about on this issue. A lot of them are being lied to. Lies work. For example, Virginia made Glenn Youngkin governor over fear of something that doesn’t exist. Now, we have book burnings in Virginia. It’s shit like this that makes me turn off the news on Saturdays and watch something like “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.”
Donald Trump leads the way for Republicans lying about where Democrats stand on defunding the police. He tweeted, before he got banned for using Twitter to coordinate a terrorist attack to destroy our democracy and constitution, “The Radical Left Democrats new theme is ‘Defund the Police.’ Remember that when you don’t want Crime, especially against you and your family. This is where Sleepy Joe is being dragged by the socialists. I am the complete opposite, more money for Law Enforcement!” he tapped off the tweet with a hashtag about law and order, which is another example of Republicans missing the irony. Also, looking at how Trump needed to capitalize “radical,” “left,” “crime” and “law enforcement” makes me think we need to reallocate money from cops and into educating old crusty-ass racist orange politicians.
But the reality is that a majority of Democrats don’t support defunding the police. President Biden is totally opposed to defunding police and is in favor or reform.
Bernie Sanders, who nobody will argue is a moderate, is also opposed to defunding police and has spoken out for more accountability from police, along with better education and training, and making their job better defined. Republicans are probably against all that too.
Senator Cory Booker said he understood the sentiment behind the slogan but would not use it.
Congressional Caucus chair Karen Black said, “”I do think that, in cities, in states, we need to look at how we are spending the resources and invest more in our communities. Maybe this is an opportunity to re-envision public safety.” Pfft. Republicans don’t want to do that.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said, “‘Defund the police’ is killing our party, and we’ve got to stop it.” Clyburn compared the slogan “defund the police” to “burn, baby, burn” used in the 1960s which many believe alienated and undermined support for the Civil Rights Movement.
“Defund the police” has been credited for Democrats losing House seats in 2020. It may have saved a few Republican Senate seats as well. Republicans are much better at messaging than Democrats, even if they are all lies.
While Republicans argue against defunding the police, they support the white nationalists who wounded Capitol Police during their insurrection, accused one of the cops of murdering one of their terrorists when he “stood his ground” and shot her as she was attempting to break into the Speaker’s office, and the GOP voted against awarding medals to the Capitol Police. Irony, irony, irony, motherfuckers.
Where do Republicans in Congress stand on defunding the Capitol Police Department? Maybe they’re not needed since Lauren Boebert is bringing a gun to the House Floor every day.
While cops are arguing against any reform, they also support white vigilantes. In Kenosha, they patted racist vigilantes on the back, gave them water, and drove by past Kyle Rittenhouse very slowly after he had just shot three people, killing two of them.
Kyle Rittenhouse wasn’t even tried for being a vigilante as the judge in his case accepted before the trial that he was in Kenosha to clean graffiti and offer medical assistance he wasn’t qualified to give. The judge decided the gun he couldn’t purchase legally was legal for him to skulk around the city with. The judge never questioned why graffiti could only be cleaned after Kyle’s curfew. The judge never questioned if the person Kyle shot was possibly defending himself. If Kyle can claim self-defense because the guy he killed pulled out a gun, then why couldn’t the person he shot make the same claim. In case you forgot, Kyle already had his gun out. And if it was legal in Wisconsin for Kyle to terrorize people with a gun at his age, then why isn’t it legal in that state for Kyle to buy the gun? Did Wisconsin become Florida?
My point with that is, the judge and the jury, joined the Kenosha Police Department in supporting vigilantes. If we’re going to bring in vigilantes, and the cops are going to ignore when they kill people, then why do we need cops? Maybe we can just defund and get rid of the racist cops? What’s that you say? Then there won’t be any cops?
The real irony is we need to defund the police so we can fund some police to police the police.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 18 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
You can’t claim it’s a just a few bad apples among America’s police when we see time after time again, entire departments engage in cover-ups.
When cops in Buffalo shoved a man to the ground busting his head open, the department shoved it aside. When cops in Minnesota arrested a black reporter, the department issued a statement that was proven false by the live footage of the arrest. In Louisiana, several cops kill a black driver, and the department covers it up for two years.
In 2019, several Louisiana State Police officers pulled Ronald Greene over near Monroe (where I was mostly raised). The cops tased, kicked, punched him in the face and dragged Greene while his hands and ankles were shackled. They left him alone on the ground, bleeding for nine minutes to suffer. He died minutes after arriving at a hospital. The state police told his family he died in a car wreck.
Body cam footage was leaked to the Associated Press. The Louisiana State Police is not outraged by what’s on the footage, but that the public has seen it.
Louisiana State Police spokesman Nick Manale wrote in an email to The Washington Post, “The premature public release of investigative files and video evidence in this case is not authorized and was not obtained through official sources.” He added the release “undermines the investigative process and compromises the fair and impartial outcome for the Greene family, LSP employees, and the community.”
Yeah, but the release of the footage probably isn’t nearly as unfair to the Greene family as a bunch of Louisiana State Troopers killing Ronald Greene on the side of a highway and then lying about the cause of death for two years.
The Justice Department is now investigating this which is awesome because during the Trump administration, the department was very lackadaisical about investigating cops killing unarmed black men.
In the video, one cop puts Greene in a chokehold and another calls him “stupid.” He is stunned repeatedly. One cops says, “Blood all over…I hope this guy ain’t got fucking AIDS.” Obviously, Louisiana State Police officers are mean and stupid.
One of the troopers who engaged in beating Greene was Dakota DeMoss, a white cop, who along with three other white cops, was later arrested on accusations of excessive force, lying about multiple arrests and turning off their body cameras, after they boasted about beating another black man. According to court documents, DeMoss texted his partners in beating unarmed black men after they surrender, that their victim was “still digesting that ‘ass whoopin’.”
Are you detecting a pattern with the Louisiana State Police? Are you detecting a pattern with the nation’s police?
This is not the last time we’re going to see this. How many more videos are being withheld by the Louisiana State Police? How many times has the LSP lied about causes of death? How often does this happen nationally?
The one thing this proves is that footage from bystanders is what’s needed to receive justice from police brutality. That’s the only way it was delivered for the murder of George Floyd. Since it doesn’t exist for Andrew Brown, the police, district attorney, and a judge in North Carolina are covering it up.
It’s not just police reform we need. The entire justice system in this nation needs to be reformed, especially in the deep south. We need to root out every racist cop, district attorney, and judge in the nation.
Conservatives often claim that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization. It’s not. The ones doing the terrorizing in this nation are the cops.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have Three copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.
I check in on a few pages of right-wing “friends” on social media to see which narrative they’re pushing that day. Most of the time, I don’t comment or engage as it’s pointless. But it’s good to see what the Tucker fuckers are talking about. I have discovered that if you go from one cultist’s page to another, they’re all on the same talking point and often using the same code words. It only takes a few minutes each day and it beats having to watch Fox News.
One of the narratives making the rounds is that the liberal media is outraged at an Ohio police officer for shooting a 16-year-old black girl as she was swinging a knife at another young black woman. The narrative is not true.
I watch a lot of CNN and I haven’t heard anyone from the network express outrage over this shooting. Don Lemon, who is one of the right’s favorites to hate, has not gone after the police over this one and has said it may be justified. Ooh, there goes that narrative. I’ve heard people on CNN express it was a tragedy. It was a tragedy. For Fox News and their ilk, it’s another opportunity to drive up outrage and increase ratings from their racist audience. The young woman was shot by a black cop.
I’m not saying the officer shouldn’t have shot the girl. I’m also not saying he didn’t have a choice. The national Fraternal Order of Police, which called it “an act of heroism, but one with tragic results.” Maybe they should learn when it’s best to shut up. Shooting a 16-year-old girl four times in the chest is NOT heroic.
I’m not a cop. This was not something that took nine and a half minutes. This was an event that transpired in 11 seconds. I have not been trained in law enforcement so I don’t know how I would have reacted with 11 seconds and a gun on my hip when it seems there may be a life on the line.
But, I am pretty sure about one thing: If this was two white guys fighting in front of a cop and he only had 11 seconds, I bet the knife-wielding white guy would still be alive.
The cop shot Ma’Khia Bryant four times. It took four bullets to stop a 16-year-old girl. Why couldn’t he have stopped her with one bullet? Or better yet, why couldn’t he have stopped her with a taser? He’s a trained officer of the law. Why couldn’t he have physically stopped her? Again, she was a 16-year-old girl.
Here’s what white conservatives don’t understand: Breaking the law doesn’t mean you should die. It doesn’t mean a cop gets to be your judge, jury, and executioner. The “obey the rules” argument is horse shit. It’s like blaming a rape victim for the way she dressed. And as outdated as that argument is, they’re still using it.
George Floyd broke the law but he shouldn’t have been killed. I know the right wants to villainize the guy and put him on trial, but the kind of person he was is not relevant. He was murdered. People shouldn’t be murdered for passing a fake $20 bill. There was a warrant for Daunte Wright but that doesn’t mean he should have been killed. Resisting arrest is not a call for the death sentence. How many people are on death row for resisting arrest? How many people are on death row for not following a cop’s instructions?
And Ma’Khia Bryant should still be alive. Maybe she would be a little worse for wear than she started that day, but she shouldn’t be dead. We still don’t know what the circumstances are. She may have even been the one to call the police to come to her neighborhood.
How do police in nations where they don’t carry guns respond to incidents like this?
I know this will sound crazy to the right-wing fucknuts, and others will say it’s a dangerous and radical opinion, but cops shouldn’t be shooting multiple bullets into 16-year-old girls.
Creative note: I did a virtual happy hour with about 30 other cartoonists last Friday. It’s a big Zoom meeting where everyone brings drinks except for guys like me who forgot to bring a drink. Anyway, during the meeting I made a joke about the number of lady justice cartoons last week. So naturally, I drew a lady justice cartoon today.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have FIVE copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.
We don’t just need police reform in this nation. We need justice reform.
Last weekend, Saturday Night Live did a skit of a morning news show where the white hosts were certain Derek Chauvin would be convicted while the black hosts were like, “eh…we’re not so sure.” I’ll be honest, I will not be shocked if Chauvin walks. Sure, his defense has been ridiculous, but have you met white America? The jury is mostly white and they only need to convince one juror there’s doubt of Chauvin’s guilt…not even that he is innocent. They only need one juror to refuse to convict. Let me remind you, they’re in white Minnesota.
Last June, the National Guard used tear gas to clear protesters away from the White House for no reason other than a photo-op for Donald Trump. The attack from the government came before curfew in broad daylight. The protesters were peaceful. Later, additional fences and barriers were placed around the White House. The protesters were protesting against police violence on black Americans.
Before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, the Capitol Police were told not to use their most aggressive tactics or weapons against the expected “protesters.” Those protesters were terrorists. They were white terrorists. Now, do you honestly believe they would have been told to hold back if they were expecting black protesters? After the white terrorists broke into the Capitol, one was killed by the Capitol Police. If they were black, how many do you think would have died?
MAGAts are still defending the terrorists and they want the cop prosecuted who shot her. Do you think they’d be making the same demands if the terrorist was black and a part of “antifa?”
Daunte Wright was killed by police in Minnesota last Sunday. They police say it was an “accidental” shooting because the cop, a 26-year veteran, mistakenly used her Glock pistol instead of her taser. Police later said they pulled him over for an expired tag, but moments before they killed him, Wright called his mother and said he had been pulled over because his rearview air freshener was obstructing his view. How often do white people get pulled over for air fresheners?
Do you believe Army Lt. Caron Nazario would have been assaulted by police in Virginia if he was white? Do you think they would have approached his vehicle with guns drawn if he was white? Do you think they would have at least apologized by now if he was white? The chief of the Windsor Police Department says the department doesn’t owe Nazario an apology and even though they’ve fired one of the cops, wishes Nazario “would have complied a whole lot earlier.” Somehow, it’s still the black guy’s fault for being pulled over and pepper sprayed despite not breaking any laws. In Windsor, they haven’t fired enough cops yet.
The National Guard tear gassed a black crowd in Washington, D.C. The Capitol Police were told not to be aggressive with a white crowd. The Chauvin defense has witnesses saying he wasn’t aggressive enough while killing George Floyd. The Windsor Police will not apologize for how aggressive they were to Lt. Nazario.
The best evidence we need police reform is America’s police. No more racist cops. No more system of systemic racism.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have FIVE copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.
If it’s any consolation, I did stare at this cartoon for nearly a day before I decided to go with it.
Whether you criticize police or support them, you should remain consistent. You shouldn’t be tribal to the point that all cops are good until they’re attacked by white nationalist MAGA terrorists sent by Donald Trump to overturn an election.
I stand with the police who protected the U.S. Capitol while also keeping in mind, some of those cops are under investigation for cooperating with the terrorists. One cop even took a selfie with the terrorists. That’s NOT a good look. Even the cop who walked into the Senate chamber filled with MAGA terrorists asked them politely not to be there.
Another look that’s not good is sympathizing with a killer over his victims.
Usually, when you think of a “bad day,” you think of a bad hair day, or a day when you are overwhelmed by life, or when you get a speeding ticket. Maybe when you think of “bad day,” you think of the so-so song by the rock band Fuel or the even better song titled “Bad Days” by The Flaming Lips. The one thing that doesn’t come to mind when I think of “bad day” is a guy who just killed eight people in a shooting spree.
The killer went to three different Atlanta-area Asian massage parlors to kills Asians, supposedly over some sexual fetish of his he was trying to eliminate. Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office said the 21-year-old white male “was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did.” Later, it was discovered that this captain had Facebook posts promoting shirts with the racist statements calling the coronavirus, “IMPORTED VIRUS FROM CHY-NA.”
California Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted, “All of us have experienced bad days, but we don’t go to three Asian businesses and shoot up Asian employees.”
The problem people like me have with America’s police isn’t with a few bad apples like Captain Jay Baker. Our problem is with the system or racism within America’s police. It’s a system that tolerates these “bad apples.” In Georgia, the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office hasn’t even acknowledged Captain Baker is a racist. Maybe they should visit his Facebook page.
When Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black child playing with a plastic toy gun in Cleveland, Ohio was killed by police, cop defenders called him a “thug.”
After 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman for walking while black and wearing a hoodie, white conservatives tried to describe Martin as a thug in training and were livid that a photo of the victim, taken three days before his death, made him look too young, innocent, and sweet. They circulated photos of a 32-year-old rapper they found menacing enough, and labeled that as Trayvon.
When black American George Floyd was arrested for supposedly trying to cash a counterfeit check, cops killed him by kneeling on his neck.
Believing he had a knife, cops in Kenosha paralyzed black American Jacob Blake by shooting him four times, out of seven shots, in the back, after tasering him.
After cops arrested white kid Dylan Roof, who was 17 at the time, the same age as Trayvon Martin, for murdering nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, they brought him a Whopper from Burger King.
And to a Georgia cop, a white guy shooting up multiple massage parlors and killing eight people, most of them women, and six of them Asian, is having a “bad day.” Did the cop think about the kind of day the victims had? Did the police captain want to bring the killer a Whopper? Maybe Senator Ron Johnson can bring all the white terrorists Whoppers.
The killer is racist against Asian-Americans and so is the cop who said the shooter was suffering from a “bad day.” The problem here is, his racism was public before his own bad day, and his police department didn’t do anything about it.
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Finally, after several months, a Kentucky grand jury leveled charges against Louisville police officer Brett Hankison in connection to the shooting of Breonna Taylor. Remember, cops busted into Taylor’s apartment, looking for someone who wasn’t there, and shot and killed her after her boyfriend shot at police. Hankison shot his gun ten times. The other two officers involved shot 22 times. Investigators say they can’t determine which officers killed Breonna (bullshit), who was struck six times. For this incident, Hankison was charged with three counts of “wanton endangerment.”
What does that mean? It means he’s NOT being charged for the death of Breonna Taylor, but for being careless. The three counts are for the three people in the apartment next door to Taylor’s which contained three people.
If there were over 32 shots from the three officers, and investigators can’t determine who shot Breonna six times, then why is only one of the cops being charged? I call bullshit on this entire thing.
According to the Kentucky statute, someone “is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.” Uh, he didn’t just create “substantial danger” or “physical injury.” The cop…or cops in this case, KILLED a person. They killed an innocent person.
For this, the cop may serve up to five years in jail for each count. The minimum is one. So, if the cop gets the minimum charge at three years, then he’ll probably end up serving less than half that time. At least that’s the way I understand but I’ll accept a correction if there is one.
Wanton endangerment is a Class D felony, the lowest of four classes of felonies. It’s almost like three cops went into the wrong apartment, without knocking or serving a warrant, shot up the place, killed Taylor, and got off with a misdemeanor.
Legal experts like to say prosecutors can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. While grand juries are independent, the prosecutor chooses what evidence to present. What did they present to this grand jury? Yes, prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich, unless that ham sandwich shot a black person.
Kentucky’s Attorney General, Daniel Cameron said, “I certainly understand the pain that has been brought about by the tragic death of Breonna Taylor. I understand that as a Black man.” But he was involved in a typical white Republican decision. To the legal system, black lives don’t matter.
First, this shooting happened last March. It took over six months for charges? If a black man busted into someone’s apartment and killed a white women, do you really believe it would take a six-month investigation to bring charges? Do you really believe the most he’d get would be for damaging walls?
So let’s get some things straight. You can get killed by police for driving while black. You can get killed by police for walking while black. You can get killed by police for being a five-year-old with a toy gun while black. You can get killed by police for bouncing a check while black. You can get killed by police for passing a $20 counterfeit bill while black. You can get killed by police for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time while black. And now, you can get killed by police for sleeping while black.
Black lives matter. Even in Kentucky.
Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.
Sometimes I’ll draw a cartoon knowing full well most of my clients won’t run it. OK, it’s more than sometimes I do that. But sometimes, you have to say something others are afraid to.
Usually, when a cop does something that outrageous America and the police have to actually accept what that cop did was wrong, they like to refer to him as a bad apple. But it’s not individual cops that are the root of the problem of systemic racism among the nation’s police departments.
When a black CNN reporter was arrested for doing his job in Minneapolis, the arresting police department issued a statement saying they couldn’t verify his credentials. Never mind the fact he had his credentials on him, there was a camera crew with him, and he was live on the air when they arrested him. It was not a “bad apple” that issued that lying statement. It was the entire department.
When a Buffalo cop shoved an old man to the ground, cracking his head open, the cop was punished. Fifty seven other cops resigned from that volunteer task force in protest of the punishment. That was not one “bad apple.” It was 58.
When cops murdered George Floyd, it wasn’t one cop who refused to arrest them for an entire week. It was the department.
Today, it’s the Kenosha Police Department that’s still refusing to arrest the cop who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times in front of his children.
It’s the Kenosha police union, not one cop, saying Blake had a knife, justifying being shot in the back seven times. A knife on the floorboard on the passenger side of his car…when he was shot seven times in the back on the outside of the driver’s side of his car.
It’s the Kenosha police union, not one cop, arguing Blake was a bad man and a wanted fugitive, as though that justifies being shot in the back seven times.
It’s the Kenosha police who decided Jacob Blake was such a danger to society, even though he was handicapped from the waist down from being shot seven times in the back by a cop, that he needed to be shackled to his hospital bed.
It was the Kenosha police who tossed water bottles to armed militia men patrolling their streets, pretending they were there to protect businesses. It was the Kenosha police who thanked these militia men even though their chief said they weren’t wanted.
It was Kenosha police who thanked and gave water to a white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante.
It was Kenosha police who decided to drive past that white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante after he had shot three people and killed two of them. It was Kenosha police who decided to let him go without question despite bystanders screaming at them that the white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante had just murdered someone.
It was the chief of police who defended that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante by saying he was “resolving” a problem.
It’s a white president refusing to say anything critical about that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante while he continues to call peaceful protesters “terrorists.”
It’s white Trump supporters and Fox News glorifying and defending that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante.
It’s white Trump supporters and Fox News glorifying and defending a terrorist.
The Kenosha Police Department has a LOT of explaining to do. America’s police departments have a LOT of explaining to do.
And in honor of Chadwick Boseman, Wakanda forever!
Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.
claytoonz 