"Aw Jesus, here too?” — was essentially my reaction to news that, Sunday night, nine officers opened fire on Robert Dentmond, a 16-year-old holding a replica rifle. Dentmond died shortly thereafter — after all, nine people shot at him.
I got mad. Mad, but not surprised. Why should the overuse of violence by police, our national shame, not taint our community, too?
And what the hell can I do about it? My anger fades to apathy once I realize I really can’t do anything. Nothing concrete, anyway: The best I can do is get mad, write about how mad I am and hope, in vain, it makes even the slightest difference. In the end, it’s not any more effective than if I posted a similar rant on Facebook.
The editorial, though: That’s where I expected to find some real outrage, or at least a hard opinion. Editorials aren’t one person’s opinion; they represent the view of the entire paper, and they come with a good deal more legitimacy and weight than the ramblings of an individual, no matter how informed or handsome that individual writer may happen to be.
I know this because I was the one writing them a year ago. It’s an important job. Sometimes, I imagine, people actually read the editorials and engage with them. Agree, disagree — who cares! It’s a free country, and if something pisses you off you can send in your very own retort. The opinions editor will be grateful, believe me.
Ironically, this is where I find myself now — writing in response to Wednesday’s editorial, which used 500 words to say nothing at all.
My name and face are in this paper; I used to work in that office, and I’m embarrassed to be associated with the complacency of that editorial, which took more effort to cover law enforcement’s ass than the officers did. I’ll be damned if I let the Alligator kick back and join the litany of voices endorsing business as usual, to shrug and sigh — “who’s to say?”— as if a child weren’t dead by some officers’ hands. Echoing the National Rifle Association, the Alligator criticized those who would use this tragedy for a political end, to “prove a point” — not realizing that this criticism, too, is itself a political stance.
The Alligator gained its independence when, in the early ‘70s, the paper flouted the authority of then-UF President Stephen C. O’Connell and published addresses of known abortion clinics. From that moment forward, the Independent Florida Alligator held the privilege and the freedom to write and report without interference or restraint from the administration or Student Government. This proud legacy of fighting the establishment, wherever it may be found, was casually tossed aside Wednesday out of deference to the police, the status quo and misguided devoti on to total objectivity.
Do I believe the officers murdered Dentmond in cold blood, the way Walter Scott and Eric Garner were? No. But I do firmly believe it was handled recklessly. Under no circumstance is it necessary or good for nine people to open fire on a person for disobeying orders.
It’s a miracle no one else was injured or killed, because stray bullets shot through at least two apartments and a car. Even with the understanding that they didn’t know the gun was fake, shooting Dentmond was the most short-sighted solution imaginable.
Hell, if you don’t want to talk about police brutality, at least mention mental health. But even that brings us back to police violence: Dentmond wished to end his life and correctly trusted the police to kill him, if only he appeared threatening.
The Alligator could’ve said so much. Instead, it published the standard “suicide in the community” platitudes, wreathed with love for our boys in blue. I am ashamed.
Alec Carver is a UF history junior. His column appears on Fridays.
