Before many details were known about the shooting of teenager Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, many journalists, activists, and politicians raced to fit the story into the broader narrative about police misconduct toward black Americans. The fact that a cop shot a black teenager just as the judge was about to read the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial made the story too difficult to resist.
When it turned out that body cam footage showed that Bryant was shot while literally lunging with a giant knife toward another black teenager, the story obviously changed dramatically. The Washington Post’s Radley Balko showed integrity by retracting his initial comments about the incident, and apologizing for not waiting until more was known. On the other hand, Ohio senator Sherrod Brown plowed ahead with the narrative, tweeting, “While the verdict was being read in the Derek Chauvin trial, Columbus police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old girl. Her name was Ma’Khia Bryant. She should be alive right now.”
While Brown and the White House have decided to simply sidestep the inconvenient element that the shooting may have saved a young black girl from being fatally stabbed, others are going a step further.
In a viral tweet, activist Bree Newsome suggested that cops, who were called to the scene, should just have somehow stayed out of what was clearly just a standard teenage knife fight:
Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene & using a weapon against one of the teenagers. Y’all need help. I mean that sincerely.
— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome) April 21, 2021
It was easy enough to dismiss this as a one off, but I started seeing more and more people echoing this idea on Twitter, and then came this from Valerie Jarrett:
A Black teenage girl named Ma’Khia Bryant was killed because a police officer immediately decided to shoot her multiple times in order to break up a knife fight. Demand accountability. Fight for justice. #BlackLivesMatter.
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) April 21, 2021
Jarrett is not a typical Twitter user. She served as Barack Obama’s closest adviser throughout his presidency, and is currently the interim head of his foundation. She is deeply connected in Democratic politics, including with many high-ranking officials in the Biden administration.
As HotAir’s Allahpundit quips, “When lefties said we should defund the police and not sweat the social consequences, they weren’t messing around.”
There are really two layers of arguments here.
One is that cops should somehow treat teenage knife fights as they would harmless roughhousing and simply ignore it. The other idea is that the officer should have figured out a way to resolve the situation without doing any harm — this even though video suggests a girl was seconds (or less) away from being stabbed. Why not shoot the leg? Or shoot the knife out of her hand?
People evidently believe this is like the movies. That somehow a cop is like Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, shooting a rope from hundreds of yards away to free Tuco from being hanged. In reality, this is not a sniper carefully getting in position to shoot a target. We’re talking about shooting a small, erratically moving target in real time. It is completely unrealistic to expect, no matter how well-trained a cop is.
To be clear, it’s possible more details will emerge that will require us to further reevaluate what transpired in Columbus. But the idea that cops need to take a step back and let teenagers stab it out with each other is completely insane.
What a bunch of moronic morons. Let the teens fight it out. In this frame one would have died no matter what. If people don’t want the cops to protect teens fighting than DON’T call them until it’s over. And then maybe not then either. Let the families figure it out as to who should be dealt with. Let the teens try to kill each other and then ask for forgiveness from the other family. Maybe that will work. I’m sure it will start a war between the families. OR…if it is black teens fighting, SEND a BLACK cop. This was a black on black fight, was it not??
“Clearly just a standard teenage knife fight”. OMG! What the heck has our society stooped to? Anyone seeing this video will understand that there was no control shown by the assailant. She meant serious bodily harm as evidenced by her size and momentum. Her mother’s description of her as a peaceful, loving little girl was inaccurate in all accounts.
Unfortunately, as I have said before, police summoned to a black-on-black altercation should just cruise on by and let it play out. They can’t win by interceding. There will always be some part of the situation that will blow-back on them, whether they took action or not. Unless people start to respect one another and agree to talk out their problems, these situations will always be powder kegs that will explode on anyone involved.
So right! Had the responding officer NOT shot this big, black girl, and she HAD stabbed the smaller black girl, then the cop would have been criticized for NOT shooting the big black girl! We talked about handling a knife attack when I went thru basic police training in the military, and reinforced this training when I became a prison guard. In both training episodes, it was clearly shown how damaging a knife attack can be, when done by someone dedicated to the idea of inflicting maximum pain and damage to the one being assaulted! As you look at the video, it’s pretty apparent that BBG wanted to assault SBG, and, she also demonstrated just how quickly even a large person can move when motivated. The moment the cop saw the knife begin to move toward the SBG, the cop was JUSTIFIED to use Deadly Force to stop the attack! The cop was DUTY BOUND to stop the attack, and protect the SBG from the BBG! Righteous Shoot! Good job, Officer!
So what should police do now… if it’s “normal” for black kids to fight with knives? Should our 911 operators ask “Is the assailant black?” before they send a policeman over to mediate? Once there, should the cop just shoot for a leg or an arm, as some have said. In a rabid fight like this was, there’s every chance the shot would not hit… and then you’d have at least one dead person, the victim. Either we have police protect us as best they can… or we stop calling 911! Can’t have it both ways!
No wonder there is such chaos in the minority neighborhoods when people like this think it is ok for kids to have knife fights!
They are all child abusers and need to be arrested for child neglect!
Let the knife fights continue! Then the cops can be blamed for doing nothing. Let’s bring back fist fighting. I can remember when kids, including teens, would settle diferences with a short fight and then shake hands and go on about their business. The problem that exists today revolves around an environment of hate encouraged by the left. Moreover this mentality goes for all sorts of confrontations. Let’s make self defense part of school curriculums and encourage adults to do the same.
You can not please a bunch of violence prone blacks (or whites, for that matter), it is a lose/lose situation for the police. I’m sure most have noticed, it seems the ONLY way some blacks can settle a disagreement is with violence. Personally I think it is due to no father in the home, no discipline in the home (or schools) and violent video games. These kids, regardless of race place no value on human life. Sad situation, how can it be fixed?
Ferral and savage.
Parents, especially fathers really do matter and until they figure that out, they will always have a shitty subculture.
Why would anyone want to be a police officer in this country . They should all turn their badges and guns in and let the fun begin. The lefties will be howling . Call Lebron “the idiot” James or Rachel Maddow or maybe a social worker if your life is in danger ! Boycott the NBA , and the NFL . BLM is in charge , God help us !!
“Just another knife fight between teenagers”? Apparently, this happens quite often if that is how the media feels about one teen attacking another with a knife. So if this is normal for them, then don’t call the police when it happens in your neighorhood.
Valerie Jarrett: It was not a “Knife fight”! One girl had a knife, the other was unarmed!
But you know that! I KNOW you’ve seen the video. That means you’re not mistaken –
You’re LYING! But that seems to be the norm for people like you these days.
This isn’t “The Hunger Games”. Children fighting to the death is not a solution.
So, if the cop just “let them fight it out” and a girl got stabbed and died, then these same morons would want to march and loot and burn things down because they stood by and didn’t do anything… especially if a white girl with a knife stabbed a black girl… but hey, it appears that black on black crime is “just normal” for these wise ivory tower SJWs so, just stand back and enjoy the fight….
Crazy logic… is illogical!
Interesting things do happen in interesting neighborhoods…
I was going to say that both opponents need a knife to have a knife fight, but someone already said it. I will add this the articles said the young woman was seconds away from being stabbed; look at the video again; she was less than a second away from being stabbed. Also look carefully, did the attacker have a knife when she threw the first girl to the ground? It didn’t seem so; however the man who came up and is shown stomping on the girl on the ground did seem to have one. The girl attacking the young woman in pink then has what appears to be the same knife. Did the man give it to her, knowing that as a minor she could murder the young woman in pink without facing harsh penalties. This is very telling since gangs often have their youngest members do the actual murder for that reason. We definitely need a great deal more information, and a lot less of the BLM BS.
…Well gosh…it’s not like she had a machete! It was only like a bayonet or a dagger of some sort. I mean c’mon, man! Couldn’t possibly have done something a Bandaid and maybe a dab of Neosporin wouldn’t have taken care of…
I think black people are the most dumb race on earth i say the cops should have just let them stab themselves. But then they would say they let it happen. Their is no pleasing black s you cant help them just let them kill themselves then the problem will be solved
You can’t be in your Right Mind to Issue that Statement.
So what is your solution. let them fight it out and don’t interfere? Then what? the low lives would riot because the police did not stop the fight?
If you believe in evolution, then you must agree that races that did not have a society that ever had mathematics, astronomy, written language, and only had bone, stone, and garments made from animal skins in the 17th and 18th centuries, are not ones based in deep thinking intellectuals. Not saying that they don’t have extremely intelligent members of their race, all races do. This a fact not a racist statement. That’s why the Chinese and Middle Easterners are top of food chain for intellectuals, followed by the Europeans and the rest. Those not exposed to a society that’s had thousands of years of evolution are not as intelligent as those who’s only exposure is in the hundreds of years. Same reason as someone who has either not had exposure to kindergarten to six grade and haven’t learned the prerequisite courses being placed in high school and lacking the skills to compete with the other students.
Looks like Charles Manson was correct when he predicted a race war in America.
If the Knife Fight Caucus takes hold, the next Oscar Nominations will have actors sport knives of their choice on their waists and the fashionistas will follow with stylish knives for fighting, filleting enemies or using at the dinner table to spear the chicken nuggets or french fries! A new economy will be formed with televised knife throwing tournaments, adventure of surviving with one’s wits and a trusty blade, the possibilities are endless! Even astronauts exploring Mars will have a trusty knife with them to confront possible ET’s!
Activist Bree Newsom advised the police, who were called to the scene, to somehow stay away from this fight, and it is better not to come at all. According to Senator Sherrod Brown, Mc’Kia Bryant should be alive right now, no matter what she stabbed, the other two girls. Other idiots think that cops should just ignore teenage knife fights. But the most humane idiots are surprised: “Why not shoot her in the leg? Or shoot her hand? ” or for example – in her eye?
The shooting was legal and moral. Sworn persons are required to intervene in a felony. Atempted murder is a felony requiring intervention. I wish that officers were better trained in the use of night sticks. My father a former deputy, acting alone, stopped a lynching that was instigated by a stabbing between a group of about 7 mexicans. This took place in the 1970’s at the Alameda County Fair. He did not draw his revolver, but instead waded in with his night stick and hospitalized several of the armed combatants. We need better training, hiring bigger cops, with more heart. This would and reduce shooting deaths. The problem seems to come from the top which due to law suits and risk management make firearms the go to response rather than a sap night stick, tear gas and stun gun. All of these are potentially lethal but less lethal than 15 rounds of 9 mm. Big cops are more intimidating than little ones and they don’t go for their guns as quickly out of fear. We have to end this social engineering.
That wasn’t a knife fight, the second girl didn’t have a knife, Mc Kia was gonna murder her! But, I agree that cops shouldn’t be going into black neighborhoods, just treat them as ‘no go zones’ and stay out, apparently there is a great number of the blacks that hate cops, so, if cops stay out of those neighborhoods, blacks wouldn’t be getting killed by cops and everyone would be happy again. Let the blacks police their own like the do in Chicago! In Chicago the cops only go in and take pictures of the aftermath and pickup the bodies.
So it is ok to kill a person as long as you don’t use a gun. Am I understanding this correctly??
People who vote for these morons should not be allowed to breed. What has happened to America?? What has happened to sanity?? When is America going to wake up and think with their head instead of their butts?
Anyone who votes for morons is themselves a moron.