Mark Hughes Jr. drives no more than necessary.
“Sometimes, I am terrified,” says the 24-year-old black man from Westwood.
“I’m always nervous,” Hughes says after a pause. “I try to keep the police from riding behind me. I have to be the perfect black guy, which is artificial, which doesn’t exist. I shouldn’t have to live like this when I’m being responsible and trying to do everything right.”
These fears and precautions reflect what’s in play for many African-Americans in Greater Cincinnati as the Raymond Tensing murder trial approaches. In the social media age, this case and the deaths of black citizens shot and killed by police across the United States feel intimate, reverberating in homes, on the streets and in people’s consciousness.
Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, shot and killed motorist Samuel DuBose on July 19, 2015, during a traffic stop in Mount Auburn. Tensing, who is white, pulled DuBose. who was black, over for a missing front license plate. Tensing’s body cam video shows the officer shooting DuBose without warning. The ex-officer’s lawyer says DuBose was trying to drive away and that his client feared being dragged under the car.
The trial is not occurring in a vacuum. It has become one more factor in the nation’s growing polarization regarding the relationship between law enforcement and people of color. When Tensing was indicted for murder, the story led The New York Times.
As a result, many eyes will be watching Tensing’s trial beginning Oct. 25, eyes that might see the testimony and outcome in very different ways, depending on the observer’s race, political beliefs and economic situation. What’s more, it will coincide with the final two weeks of the presidential campaign. The Trump-Clinton battle highlights complicated questions about race and policing in America.
Source: USA Today | Mark Curnutte, The Cincinnati Enquirer