Ringside Report Demands Justice for Daniel Prude & Sheku Bayoh!

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

As I sit in my Kailyard I wonder often about the future.

Daniel Prude.

Not perhaps the same as George Floyd but the problem we have with names is their currency. By spouting them off we can devalue their merit as we think that the recognition, they have with the general public is going to buy us some form of legitimacy for our views. I support George Floyd and what happened to him is a crime fits neatly.

But Daniel Prude.

A 41-year-old man of color who was held until he stopped breathing.

He was held by police officers.

They shall not face any criminal charges for their actions.

From over here, that appears to be wrong.

Simply wrong.

Not wrong in mitigation or in context or indeed as a response to any protests. It is quite simply wrong.

Maybe there is insufficient evidence?

Nope – body cam footage clearly shows the offense.

Perhaps people do not care enough – it is not a big enough story?

There were nightly protests against what happened so nope…

So why?

The fact that police officers who should be held accountable are not going to have to face the legal authorities over their actions is a scandal. Even the State Attorney General thinks so. She called for serious reform, “…not only at the Rochester police department, but to our criminal justice system as a whole.”

But before I start to throw my condemnation into the ring with others, I need to step back a moment and contemplate my own country.

Sheku Bayoh.

A 31 year old man of color, arrested by police in the Scottish town of Kirkcaldy, on suspicion of having a knife and behaving erratically.

Six officers holding him on the floor, nine officers in attendance, twenty three separate injuries, ninety minutes later he is pronounced dead.

People held accountable for his death?

Same as for Daniel Prude.

There is something rotten in the state, and as Shakespeare showed, perhaps there needs to be some letting go of the people at the top before real reform can be contemplated. It could be done without the bloodshed as in Hamlet, as the blood of innocent people has already flowed – whither the justice?

A view from the new Kailyard or, how you look over there, from over here…

(kailyard n. a genre of sentimental Scottish literature turned into effective invective comment from one Donald worth reading…)

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