Bakari Sellers: Black People Feel ‘Pure Exhaustion’ After Daunte Wright’s Life Was ‘Cut Short for No Reason’
Bakari Sellers expressed clear exhaustion with the ongoing police reform and racial justice issues once again brought to light by the killing of an unarmed black man during a routine traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Appearing on New Day Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after the deadly incident and civil unrest that has followed, Sellers was joined by retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey to share insights on yet another instance of injustice and provided their unique insight for CNN viewers.
The segment opened with heart-wrenching audio played from Daunte Wright’s aunt from Monday night’s Don Lemon Tonight. She expressed deep sorrow and understandable anger at the police officer’s “accident” that took her nephew’s life away. After which, anchor John Berman asked his guests to reflect on the tragic situation.
“Daunte Wright’s life was cut short for no reason,” Sellers noted. “More importantly, when you peel back the layer of this onion, the frustrating part—if we’re going to level set and keep it 100, John, as we always do—is white folk who want to say, well, ‘why didn’t he comply?’ Or ‘he had misdemeanors,’ where none of those things are death penalty crimes.”
“We feel like we have to go through this over and over again. You lose Daunte, and then they try to sully his name in death,” he added. “You know, you think about what happened with our army lieutenant or with what happened with Tamir Rice. Even if you comply or Philando Castile, you still don’t get the same benefits that other people in this country get.”
“This is a tough day, but I think that Ms. Dorsey will agree with me; the first emotion that most black people in this country feel today is one of pure exhaustion,” he concluded.
The segment continued until Ms. Dorsey was asked to opine on a recent tweet from Rep. Rashida Tlaib that suggested that the police were beyond reform and should ostensibly be shut down entirely. Surprisingly, the former LA police sergeant agreed with the Michigan Democrat.
“Well, I’m in total agreement,” she offered when asked about Tlaib’s comments. “I believe the only reform and training that police officers need going forward is a conviction. They understand that.”
“When there’s a penalty that’s commensurate, equal to what they do; when they understand that ‘oh my God, there was an officer just a couple of counties over doing time for this very thing,’ maybe they would show a little impulse control in the midst of all that’s going on,” she said.
“We saw insurrectionists armed, and they weren’t met with the kind of resistance that we see unarmed black men on a day-to-day basis met with then excused away with ‘oops, my bad,'” Dorsey concluded.
Watch above via CNN.
