[col. writ.10/4/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
A young mother, her infant quietly snoozing in the back seat, drives a car down Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, DC, where she meets a forest of barricades, and, seconds later, over half a dozen cops, pistols drawn, shouting, and pointing guns at her.
Perhaps she panics, and follows her instincts; she puts the car in reverse, rolls back a few feet, and tries to drive away.
In seconds, the vehicle is Swiss-cheesed with bullets – and the young woman is dead.
Miraculously, the child is unharmed.
Before the smoke cleared, news accounts tell of “an exchange of gunfire”, and a “shoot-out’ in DC.
In fact, the 34 year old woman was unarmed.
Miriam Carey of Connecticut, who reportedly suffered from post-partum depression, was killed by DC police.
Media reports are often unreliable shortly after such events, given confusion, and more often, the one-sided reports provided by police.
Later media accounts painted the woman as psychotic.
Assuming she was, is mental illness treated by semi-automatic gunfire? Some cure.
Modern American life is intensely stressful, especially given the financial and social pressures faced by millions.
Capitalism, as in the ruthlessness of dog-eat-dog, exacerbated that stress. Perhaps these stresses overwhelmed a young mother who couldn’t get a grip.
Perhaps.
But the cops didn’t solve these problems; they merely created another one for a child who is now motherless; and family without a sister, a daughter – a loved one.
–©’13maj