If You Hadn’t Heard Of This Little Girl Either, Ask Yourself Why That Is

I don’t recall seeing national outrage when this happened. I feel like these cases are too often lost, forgotten, or ignored, and that’s why I am so glad J. Cole brought this little girl and her tragic story back into our consciousness. Watch it, and then read the recap below.

This video is a dramatization. Here’s what happened:

At nearly 1 a.m. on May 16, 2010, on an unlit street in the East Side of Detroit, a Special Response Team (Detroit Police Department’s version of a SWAT team) raided a duplex in search of a murder suspect. A single shot was fired from an officer’s submachine gun. It struck and killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones. She was 7 years old.


You have to ask yourself whether the 25-year trend of outfitting our police forces with the tools and mentality of an invading army is really worth this type of casualty.

Special thanks to the unofficial poet laureate of Detroit, Charlie LeDuff, for crucial background. If you want to fall down the rabbit hole of the American police state, Radley Balko‘s report is essential reading.

Parenting

Development specialist who’s worked with 5,000 kids shares one rule every parent should know.

Pop Culture

The hidden digital detail inside Taylor Swift’s wedding invitation designed to catch guests who leaked it.

Culture

A bride’s divorced parents entered the reception together to ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’

Pop Culture

A song in a bank commercial was never destined to be a hit. Then the Carpenters saw the ad.