Mel Hopkins

#PhilandoCastile  murder trial

Most people don't want to hear this but we black people must be better involved with government...A quick search engine query returned that Ramsey county where the murder trial of Philando Castile was held has a diverse population 36% are people of color (and there's a lot of Ethiopians and Somalis immigrants) but low voter turnout...

If people aren't even voting there's less chance of being called for jury duty. This jury had 1 black American male and 1 Ethiopian-American woman... that's 1 man who may have shared Castile's perspective of what it's like to be a black man in America - the rest of the jury were middle-aged white men and women. While we hope a jury can be impartial at least and empathetic at best when viewing evidence - not everyone shares a perspective that would allow them to view evidence the same way.

By now we should stop being surprised that the system is failing black people... black people who are not involved in government - at the very least by voting and serving on juries are failing the black community. Let's stop being surprised and get involved; let's teach the next generation how to shape a government that works for them, not against them.