Opinion | Mikki Kendall: Amber Guyger's 10-year sentence and guilty verdict were proof that Black Lives Matter had an impact. - NBCNewsTHINK
In Guyger’s case, despite her defense relying on the idea that Botham Jean was a threat because of his size and race, her actions and training belied her testimony. But, in many ways, her words mirrored that ofafter an argument over loud music in a parking lot and claimed he’d been threatened; Dunn, too, was convicted. Like Dunn and Drejka, Guyger seemed to be certain that, despite being the only armed person present, her fear justified taking a person’s life.
There is an argument to be made that someone like Guyger rightly should have been held to a higher standard for use of lethal force, and perhaps that was a factor in her conviction. But, much like with Drejka and Dunn, there’s a fundamental flaw in any legal doctrine that positions white equanimity as more valuable than a human life.
In many ways the convictions of Guyger, Dunn and Drejka reflect the slowly shifting tenor of American ideas around race, self-defense and policing. As the message that Black Lives Matter permeates the culture — albeit slowly and inconsistently — juries are starting to reject defense arguments that the mere presence of a Black person is a threat to a well-armed white person.
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