The killing of Alton Sterling
Warning: it’s bad.
So, the Baton Rouge police killed a man selling CDs. That much is clear.
Also clear – in the absence of a mitigating factor, like Stirling somehow reaching for a weapon – is that it looks like an execution. This, like the murder of Michael Brown two years ago – a killing that I could not get out of my mind that Summer – has the characteristics of what the Americans call capital murder. It also looks like a violation of the U.S. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
It’s going to be another hot Summer down there. Based upon the video above, it should be.