As  the late, great Malcolm X stated long ago, the chickens will come home to roost.

The murder of 50 year old Walter Scott in South Carolina last Saturday by a white cop, Michael Slagle became the latest in a tragically horrendous series of police killings of unarmed Black people.

The reasons for ALL of these killings are that

1) the decedent attempted to grab the officer's weapon,

2) the decedent 'charged toward me in an aggressive manner', and

3) I was in fear of my life.

There is a fourth reason not loudly stated;

I was following police "procedure" when I killed him//her.

For many years (I'm 66) these excuses were allowed by police supervisors, an apathetic white society, and a virtually powerless Black community.

But the killing of Walter Scott is different on so many levels.

There were either no witnesses to dispute police versions of events because the victims who could contradict the "facts" laid out by the cops were dead or afraid to speak, or there was no "physical" evidence to refute what the incident reports said.

That was then.

Now there is ample evidence of cold-blooded murder, planting evidence by police, filing false reports in connection with the shooting, a witness to the incident, and finally, a videotape of a killing by police of a man who was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.

This is a very sad, tragic event for every body.

But this time the 'chickens have come to roost' and there may be justice for Walter Scotts' family and a new beginning for police-community relations regarding respect for Black people's lives, acceptance of the natural humanity of Black people, and the realization that we are all in this life together and we all want peace and tranquility in our lives.

Terrence Rahming

The Root