Someone Else for the NFL To Kneel For

Regular subscribers to LewRockwell.com may recall that not too long ago I did a piece on Antwon Rose, a black 17-year-old victim of fatal police violence who was commemorated by having his name stenciled onto the helmets of members of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. Well, I’ve since come across another black 17-year-old victim of fatal police violence every bit as deserving as Antwon Rose of having his name stenciled on the helmets of the players of some NFL team, one Alvin Cole of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Here’s what went down with Alvin back on February 2 of this year: Alvin and some friends were visiting Mayfair Mall, Alvin having in his shoulder sling bag a stolen 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol with an extended 30-round magazine. That it was illegal for him to be in possession of such a weapon both because of his age and because of a prior juvenile felony conviction was apparently lost on him because the night before he posted a Facebook photo of himself brandishing the weapon and making an obscene gesture. NATURELO Vitamin D - 5... Buy New $24.95 ($0.14 / Count) (as of 04:55 UTC - Details)

So here was Alvin in the mall, minding his own business with his stolen, illegal, high-capacity firearm, when a man in another group, laughing at something that took place in his own group, was misunderstood by Alvin to be laughing at him. Believing himself to have been disrespected, Alvin swaggered over and began flashing his gun at the stranger. As other shoppers and mall security took notice, the alarmed stranger made a grab for the gun, but Alvin dodged the attempted disarm and he and his group headed for an exit and out into the evening darkness. Multiple calls about the incident were fielded by 911 dispatch.

As mall security and responding police pursued Alvin, he drew the weapon, and the police shouted at him to drop the gun and get on the ground. But he continued to run, discharging the weapon once and then falling to his knees, still clutching the weapon and even pointing it at the police. The police repeatedly told him to put the gun down, but he didn’t. A black officer, Joseph Mensah, fired several times, fatally striking Alvin.

Elderberry + Vitamins ... Buy New $12.97 ($0.22 / Count) (as of 04:55 UTC - Details) The ensuing investigation revealed some interesting elements in the incident. The single shot fired by Alvin somehow managed to graze his own arm. The high-capacity magazine was not locked in place in the recovered gun, but rather was recovered from the shoulder sling bag. And finally, a spent shell casing was found in the chamber of the gun; such a casing should have been ejected from the gun, leaving the chamber empty. My preliminary take on certain of these matters is as follows: There is a little button on the side of such a gun that when pressed releases the magazine and lets it drop out of the weapon; if this button was inadvertently jostled as Alvin was running, it could have caused the magazine to release in the shoulder sling bag and remain there when Alvin drew the weapon out of the bag. If the gun was not well maintained or the backward motion of the gun’s slide was inhibited, the shell casing wouldn’t have been ejected from the chamber as it should have been. Had these malfunctions not occurred, Alvin might have been able to fire multiple shots at the pursuing police.

The investigation came to a head on October 7, when a grand jury correctly declined to press charges against Officer Mensah. There were obligatory BLM demonstrations, of course, and the breaking of windows of business and residences, and the looting of a gas station. Alvin Cole’s life mattered! But if Alvin Cole had managed to evade the police that evening and then had gone on to murder other black people, would their black lives have mattered?

George Hollenback is a writer who makes his home in Houston.

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