Friends reject police’s take on transgender woman’s death
AURORA | A week after Aimee Wilcoxson was found dead in her north Aurora home, her friends say they still have questions about the transgender woman’s death.
“None of it makes sense to us,” said Imani Latif, executive director of It Takes A Village, the nonprofit organization where Wilcoxson worked.
More than 30 friends of Wilcoxson gathered Wednesday night near It Takes a Village at East Colfax Avenue and Lima Street to remember the woman who they say loved to laugh, loved Madonna and who advocated for other transgender women who, like her, had been diagnosed with HIV.
Wilcoxson, 34, had been living as a woman for more than 10 years, friends say.
Police found Wilcoxson dead in her home in the 1600 block of Lima Street on Nov. 3.
Police aren’t releasing many details about the case, but said investigators believe Wilcoxson took her own life.
“Detectives feel that all the evidence in the case points to a suicide,” said Aurora police spokesman Detective Bob Friel.
Friel said police are waiting for a toxicology exam from the Adams County Coroner’s office, which could take up to six weeks to complete.
The coroner’s office has ruled the cause of death “undetermined” and is waiting on toxicology results, said Adams County Coroner Jim Hibbard.
But Wilcoxson’s friends say she was a happy person with a lot to look forward to and wouldn’t have killed herself. They say she was murdered.
“We think there was foul play,” Latif said.
Latif said one of Wilcoxson’s neighbors found her dead in her bed Nov. 3. The neighbor said there was broken furniture in the home and that there was blood on the mattress where Wilcoxson lay, Latif said.
Friel said police can’t comment specifically about those claims and reiterated that evidence in the case points to a suicide.
Latif said investigators told Wilcoxson’s friends that the blood was from Wilcoxson’s body decomposing and that she likely overdosed on pills.
But Latif argues that there wasn’t enough time for the body to decompose — friends spoke to her Sunday and her body was found Monday. And, she said, Wilcoxson had been followed home before and complained about “tweakers” hanging out around her home, Latif said.
Wilcoxson’s friends say they believe she was beaten to death, though they don’t know by who or why.
Hibbard, the Adams County coroner, said there were no obvious signs of trauma to Wilcoxson’s body and that if anyone knows more about her death, they need to contact police.
Latif said Wilcoxson also wasn’t the type to kill herself.
She said Wilcoxson was diagnosed with terminal cancer early this year and that one of the things that bothered her most was that she wouldn’t be alive to see Madonna play at the Pepsi Center this month.
When doctors told her she had been misdiagnosed, the Madonna concert was one of the things Wilcoxson was looking forward to most, Latif said.
“We know that if she was going to commit suicide, she wouldn’t have done it a week before the Madonna concert,” she said.
I’m sucking on adding commentary, but I wanted to point people to this story.
Well everyone knows transwomen are never really happy, we’re crazy the moment we’re diagnoised you know, and we all off ourselves eventually, and it isn’t like she was a “real” person anyway.
:(
Twiggy
November 13, 2008 at 4:09 am
Ah bloody hell.
queenemily
November 13, 2008 at 4:10 am
What?!
*raging mad transsexual female amok at her office.*
Yuki Choe
November 13, 2008 at 5:00 am
The circumstances of her death sound very suspicious. Ppl’s bodies don’t spontaneously bleed after they die, nor do I think a person who’s overdosed on CNS-depressant meds will be going around and breaking hir own furniture.
We’re losing so many good women, I feel at a loss as to what to do about it.
GallingGalla
November 13, 2008 at 5:53 am
because obviously “no obvious signs of trauma” means that there’s no way she could have been killed, huh?
suicide’s pretty easy to determine. people usually leave, you know, a note. or they call someone, or they said something, etc etc.
i don’t buy the suicide angle.
algormortis
November 13, 2008 at 6:03 am
If this happened in the London I would be requesting the formation of a ‘Gold Group’ which is a procedure whereby the Police get together with community advisers to discuss the case on a confidential basis. Is there a local equivalent? Also is there a local equivalent of our LGBT liaison officers? These are Police Officers or sometime Police Staff who are LGBT themselves who take on the responsibility of advocating for the community within the Police. If there is it might be worth contacting them. I know that the local people have probably thought of this but I think it never hurts to make suggestions!
Paula Thomas
November 13, 2008 at 7:29 am
Wow… I live in Aurora, but I didn’t know her. I guess no place is really safe for anyone.
Mireille
November 13, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Lazy police mean killers get away with things scot free :(
z
November 13, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Yeah, I have to call bull on the whole suicide angle. I’m sorry, a week before her idol’s concert, broken furniture, and blood that is definitely peri-mortem points to it being murder. I really hope publicity keeps up on this, so that it won’t be simply swept under the rug.
Charlotte
November 16, 2008 at 6:36 pm
As a transwoman and retired Texas police officer who transitioned on the job 7 years prior to retirement, I’d like to know precisely what motivation someone thinks there is for the police AND the medical examiner to conspire together to falsify a murder by self-poisoning as a suicide. Frankly, that’s a pretty large degree of official criminality just to avoid a murder investigation.
Diana Powe
November 19, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I think asking us for the motivation is unreasonable.
I don’t know what’s going on there – but, given how many trans women are murdered, that at least two trans women in the past year and a half have probably been killed by police with no investigation having occurred or likely to occur, I’m wondering what kind of official criminality they’d be risking to dismiss a murder of a trans woman as a suicide?
Murders of trans women are not investigated as thoroughly as murders of cis people in general, and convictions are not as common.
Lisa Harney
November 20, 2008 at 4:53 am
…and when they occur they tend to come with significantly lighter prison sentences.
algormortis
November 20, 2008 at 5:42 am
[...] Sanesha Stewart, Alexis King, Angie Zapata, Lateisha Green, Ebony Whitaker, Dilek Ince, and Aimee Wilcoxson. Four of these women — Duanna, Lateisha, Dilek and Aimee — were murdered in the past [...]
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2008 : The Curvature
November 20, 2008 at 8:53 am
So, the purported explanation is that there is such institutional hatred of transpeople in both the Aurora Police Department AND the medical examiner’s office that they will engage in a criminal conspiracy to commit an offense under Colorado Revised Statutes 18-8-105, Accessory to crime, to wit:
(1) A person is an accessory to crime if, with intent to hinder, delay, or prevent the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for the commission of a crime, he renders assistance to such person.
_____
(e) Conceal, destroy, or alter any physical or testimonial evidence that might aid in the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of such person.
Which crime under that statute would be a Class 4 felony. That’s a pretty large risk for a large group of people to take over…what benefit? The allegation is made that “murders of trans women are not investigated as thoroughly as murders of cis people in general, and convictions are not as common.” That’s an extremely substantial and blanket accusation to make and would call for extremely substantial evidence. What evidence is there that this is true and not just rhetoric?
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 11:56 am
I don’t know what’s going on there but I think there’s a pretty big difference between the possibility that someone wrote off what could be a murder as suicide and an alleged massive conspiracy to conceal evidence.
As for the fact that murders aren’t investigated as thoroughly? And convictions aren’t as common or as harsh? Nizah Morris? Duanna Johnson? Ruby Molina? Alexis King? Kellie Telesford? Arlene Diaz? Tiffany Berry? Chanelle Pickett?
Lisa Harney
November 20, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I agree that we “don’t know what’s going on there”. There’s also a “pretty big difference” between opining from a distance without, I assume, a criminal investigation background that “someone wrote off a murder as suicide” and not actually having the facts to make such a huge accusation. Dead bodies can’t be just “written off” as suicide because the medical examiner is the entity who determines the cause and manner of death, not the police. So, this accusation necessitates the assumption of a conspiracy between the police and the medical examiner because in this case the suspected cause of death is intentional overdose which will either be supported or not supported by the lab work done at the medical examiner’s office.
The point here is not that transpeople aren’t the subject of bias and violence, including homicidal violence because of being trans. They are. The recent case of Angie Zapata, just as a single instance, is proof of that. The point is that it’s not a productive exercise to engage in evidence-free conspiracy-thinking about such violence. It diminishes the reality of what happens to transpeople. If Aimee Wilcoxson truly took her own life then it is an insult to her memory to try to accuse others of criminal acts simply because you don’t choose to believe from a distance that she was capable of that act.
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Every one of those cases involves police or judicial indifference. One involves police brutality, and a possible punishment/execution. One involves a mysterious disappearance after a ride in a police car.
Lisa Harney
November 20, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Lisa,
I appreciate the fact that you’re being a voice for change with your blog. However, just saying things doesn’t mean that they’re so. I spent 30 years in policing in Texas. Four of them were as a reserve officer with the Dallas Police Department and 26 years-plus were with the Richardson Police Department. I transitioned on the job despite the lack of any legal protections for which fact I consider myself extremely fortunate.
Many transpeople have had and do have horrible experiences with the police at the level of street contacts. There is ample bias among police officers and every effort should be made to change that. I have many years of direct experience of that. However, police officers are also professionals and no officer operates in a vacuum especially in the case of an investigation of a possible homicide. Simply because people who knew Aimee Wilcoxson don’t believe that she committed suicide is one aspect of an investigation, but it’s not the entire investigation.
The principle of Occam’s Razor has to apply. Which is more likely, that the police and the medical examiner are in a criminal conspiracy to conceal the existence of a crime or that, despite her friends’ knowledge of her life and thinking, Aimee Wilcoxson killed herself? I don’t know. I don’t have all the facts, but I do know that the death of a human being is not properly investigated via news reports and rumor.
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I think that the idea that the only two options are “Aimee killed herself” and “the police and medical examiner are in a criminal conspiracty to conceal the existence of a crime” is a false dilemma.
And I’m not even saying that she didn’t commit suicide, but the story does sound suspicious, and it sounds like Aimee’s friends are at least asking for more transparency.
And, bluntly: When it comes to trans deaths, I don’t automatically trust police professionalism. Sorry, but that’s not going to change in the near future.
Lisa Harney
November 20, 2008 at 1:36 pm
When it comes to trans deaths, I don’t automatically trust police professionalism.
Unfortunate, but true for most of us, I think.
nix
November 20, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Technically, the medical examiner can reach one of five conclusions regarding a death – homicide, suicide, accidental death, natural causes or unknown. However, the story cites Aimee’s friends as believing the choice is between murder and suicide so that’s why I’ve framed my comments that way. Their desire for transparency is understandable, however, by their nature, police investigations, especially those that are still in process, are not automatically transparent for a number of reasons, none of which have to do with nefarious motives on the part of the police. Based on my experience with death investigations, there’s nothing about the story that sounds suspicious to me, but again, all I know is what I’ve read which is different by orders of magnitude from actually being part of the investigation.
Police and police agencies are not without faults and sometimes engage in criminality. However, those are the exceptions and typically are not at the level of an entire organization. There’s nothing wrong with being skeptical while retaining an open mind, however, openness or closeness of mind can go both ways.
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Diana Powe, “those are the exceptions”? Amnesty International tells a different story.
As would the events at the RNC.
Even if she did die of poison and not beating, whose to say she chose to poison herself a week before the event she’d been looking forward to for months.
Also, broken furniture, blood, history of being followed home, etc doesn’t sound much like suicide.
drakyn
November 20, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I have contributed to, been a member of and have great respect for Amnesty International. However, while they provide ample examples of the numerous instances where transpeople are mistreated by law enforcement in the United States that does not refute my views regarding this specific case. As I previously noted, police conduct vis-a-vis transpeople typically occurs during street-level contacts. This has nothing to do with investigating a death.
You may hold whatever opinion you have based on third-party information and rumor, but I can assure you from ample personal experience of press coverage of events where I was a participant that your information is insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions about the circumstances of Aimee’s death.
On a side note, you should know that poisoning is an extremely uncommon form of murder and is usually done where the suspect and the victim are related. In 2007, there were 14,831 murders known to police nationwide. Of those, 10 were by poisoning or 0.00067%.
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I apologize for my arithmetic error. Homicides by poisoning last year in the United States were 0.067% of the total.
Diana Powe
November 20, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Diana,
As far as I can see, you’re simply viewing this case from afar just like everyone else and I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but, personal experiences don’t necessarily reflect other people’s reality. In other words, the only cases you can talk about with any authority are those that you were actually a part of. Those who knew Aimee are in a much better position to be able to determine whether what’s been suggested so far sounds like something she might do.
You’ve been moving the goal posts throughout this entire thread and made several illogical assumptions. Perhaps only you can know for sure what might be motivating you, but I can certainly understand why you might be willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the police involved in this case. I’m sure you’ve known plenty of police officers who you do not believe would ever engage in sloppy, deceptive, malicious, or even murderous behavior. However, plenty of people have had experiences with law enforcement that make it completely reasonable to be skeptical of what they say and even suspicious about how they might be willing to treat those of us who belong to marginalized communities.
Whenever I hear about someone who supposedly murdered hir spouse, I wish I could just believe that this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often. After all, most people don’t kill their spouses. However, it happens frequently enough that I can understand why people tend to suspect the victim’s spouse even if there is no proof that the person was actually involved. Maybe if spousal murder didn’t occur so much, people would be less likely to feel so suspicious. We could spend our time regretting the fact that sometimes innocent people are treated with suspicion and skepticism if their mate gets murdered. After all, it certainly isn’t a good thing if a person has to deal with that on top of having lost their loved one, so it certainly wouldn’t be completely unproductive. However, what if we took the time to do something about why people feel as if they should be suspicious? If we actually prevented or significantly decreased the number of people who do die at the hands of their spouse, we’d be addressing the root causes of this kind of suspicion instead of the symptom.
Likewise, if you really care about the fact that so many people here and elsewhere have a very low opinion of police officers, then it might be more productive for you to do something to prevent police misconduct/unethical behavior instead of just saying that we should be assured by your “ample personal experience”.
bint alshamsa
November 21, 2008 at 3:20 am
bint,
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. In fact, you’re first observation is correct. I AM viewing this case from afar. As I’ve noted previously, I have no way of knowing what the cause and manner of Aimee’s death is. However, that is essentially true of everyone who is not actually conducting the investigation. Why? Because they don’t have the actual facts. What they have is third-party information, rumor and, in some cases, personal involvement.
I take as a given that the beliefs and experiences of Aimee’s friends are both valid and relevant to the investigation. They have offered a reason to consider that she did not commit suicide. This reason is properly part of an investigator’s work. However, it is not conclusive.
I also fully acknowledge all the mistrust that people in minority communities have of the police. Police misconduct is a real and serious problem. However, it is also a problem that is not uniform across all police agencies in the United States or even uniform within all agencies.
The stance that has been applied here in some comments is to assume bad-faith on the police seemingly because they are the police. That’s just as prejudicial as assuming that a member of a minority group is unworthy of consideration because they’re a member of a minority. Of course, the police have power to inflict oppression on the public that the public doesn’t share, but that doesn’t mean that the underlying prejudice isn’t just as real if it emanates from the oppressed.
In fact, I do care about how people view the police which is why I’ve been commenting here. I have a perspective of having been a career peace officer and a member of a minority. As to having done something about it, I did. As a police officer with Richardson, I was both a field trainer for recruit officers and an instructor in police ethics.
In this specific instance, my suggestion would be for Aimee’s friends to wait until the police say that they’ve concluded the investigation. If they believe that the police have not considered all possibilities, then I would suggest that they work together to communicate with Chief Oates of Aurora PD and request a meeting with the investigator to discuss their questions.
Diana Powe
November 21, 2008 at 11:10 am
That’s just as prejudicial as assuming that a member of a minority group is unworthy of consideration because they’re a member of a minority. Of course, the police have power to inflict oppression on the public that the public doesn’t share, but that doesn’t mean that the underlying prejudice isn’t just as real if it emanates from the oppressed.
ummmm, no. nice try. this is the same trick i hear from white people all the time and it doesn’t work then. the oppressor who inflicts damage with power does not get to play this game. you can own it, or you can try to push it back on minority communities. you’re trying to push it back, and it’s kinda disgusting.
individual cops can be good or bad. most cops are good people, but the police in general are a tool of the oppressive system no matter how you slice it.
algormortis
November 21, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I understand your point of view and ordinarily I would agree. The entire “they’re oppressing me because I’m a white male” stance is utterly repellent. However, you’re also correct, law enforcement is not the same as the system of laws which they enforce and not all official oppression is a result of “the system”, as in the laws the police work to enforce. It’s also, in this case, the overall lack of respect and understanding in American culture for the experience of transpeople.
However, coming back to the specific instance of this post, the specific cause and manner of the death of a specific individual is being called into question because of a general belief that the police are lazy, bigoted or what have you. What is the basis for this in this particular case? People who are not privy to all the information that the investigator has make assumptions based on rumor and third-party information and add that to a prejudice directed to the officer or officers investigating this death based on nothing more than the fact that they are in the occupational group that they’re in and assume that this person or persons are acting in bad faith.
I’m not complaining about anybody being angry at the police. I was actually kind of amused when, within the last two years, I was pumping gas into my personal car at a 7-Eleven in DALLAS while still in my Richardson police uniform and had someone driving past in a car who was at least 150 feet away yell, “Fuck you, pig!” I was the object of hatred and scorn simply by virtue of the clothing I was wearing. It was rather ironic given my status as a transwoman. In fact, it’s something that police officers often note that everybody loves the fire department (except, of course, those people who’ve shot at and thrown things at firefighters on the job).
Diana Powe
November 21, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Diana Powe,
However, that is essentially true of everyone who is not actually conducting the investigation. Why? Because they don’t have the actual facts. What they have is third-party information, rumor and, in some cases, personal involvement.
You’re contradicting yourself here. Aimee’s loved ones, those people with the “personal involvement”, do have actual facts. They have more facts at their disposal than you do, so when it comes to this specific case, their opinions do carry more weight than yours.
The stance that has been applied here in some comments is to assume bad-faith on the police seemingly because they are the police.
That isn’t what I’ve observed. I’ve see commenters who are aware of many valid reasons to distrust the police point out that they are, indeed, distrustful of them in this case, too. It’s a conclusion based on the system that these police officers belong to, a system that acts as the enforcer of an oppressor class’s hegemonic intentions.
We can examine a single act of police violence against people with disabilities (I’m using that as an example because I want to be careful not to act as a self-appointed spokesperson for people who are transgendered) in terms of the individuals involved and in terms of how it is may be an example of institutionalized bigotry against disabled people. Both ways of viewing the incident would be just as valid as the other. Similarly, thinking about and discussing Aimee’s case from the systemic perspective is just as valid as talking about how this case in particular may or may not be a case of police inaction/apathy/disdain.
As to having done something about it, I did.
That’s wonderful. I know that some people see working from within as the best way to address these problems. However, there are drawbacks to that approach. It can make it difficult for some people to feel as if they can trust that the person really has the minority group’s best interests in mind.
In this specific instance, my suggestion would be for Aimee’s friends to wait until the police say that they’ve concluded the investigation.
My suggestion would be for Aimee’s friends to keep up the pressure. If her loved ones have information that might help the police avoid forming an erroneous conclusion, then that’s infinitely better than the alternative.
I was the object of hatred and scorn simply by virtue of the clothing I was wearing. It was rather ironic given my status as a transwoman.
Given what you stated, how do you know that you were being hated and scorned by that person? Are you assuming that you could know what the driver’s motives were even without questioning hir?
Also, I don’t see the irony in what you’ve described. Being a part of one marginalized group doesn’t mean one is any less likely to belong to an oppressor class. Police uniforms, football jersey’s, KKK hoods, girl scout vests…all of these signify allegiance with a particular group, to some extent or another. Having other allegiances doesn’t mitigate one’s choice to be a part of an oppressor class.
bint alshamsa
November 22, 2008 at 12:16 pm
bint,
Thanks again for your very articulate comments. One thing that you may have detected (or perhaps I’m wildly mistaken there) is that I was an atypical police officer especially in an agency in North Central Texas starting in the first Reagan Administration. I never had a desire growing up to be a police officer and my initial foray into that path was my being a volunteer in the form of being a Dallas Police reserve officer. My motivation there was more curiosity than a desire to be part of law enforcement.
When I did undertake policing as my employment, my firm belief was that transitioning while working as a police officer was simply out of the question. To my knowledge it had never been accomplished successfully and I was clearly a rare liberal within a generally conservative group. However, as it turned out, the police chief, a white man who was the longest-serving chief at a single agency in Texas at the time, was completely supportive of my transition and was a vital part in its success.
I’m a member of a group of transgendered law enforcement officers and employees who represent agencies all over the United States and some other countries. Many have transitioned on the job and the reaction has varied from complete success like mine to extreme rejection. Why is that? Because law enforcement agencies are composed of people who are not individual widgets within a homogeneous “oppressor class”.
As to my “fuck you, pig” moment, I will grant you that I didn’t have any opportunity to inquire into the person’s motivation. It may have been some sort of reflexive tic left over from the Summer of Love, for all I know. However, it would be the odd individual indeed who screamed out such a comment while thinking it was going to be taken as an expression of appreciation.
While I have previously acknowledged the many instances of police misconduct and corruption that have existed and do exist, I will also point out that the very common day-to-day behavior of police officers and sheriff’s deputies working in uniform exhibits what I consider the most profound moral principle an individual may embody. Every day, law enforcement officers, good and bad, go out and demonstrate a willingness to be injured or killed to protect people they’ve never met and might not like if they did meet them.
Do they think about that? Not necessarily and certainly not on a day-to-day basis. However, they conform their behavior to that principle. They run towards the danger instead of away from it. None of that excuses any wrongdoing on their part. In fact, that makes any wrongdoing that much more reprehensible because it violates such a high moral principle.
I don’t dismiss any lack of trust that anyone has for the police. Trust is something that must be earned every day.
Diana Powe
November 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Diana,
Personally, I’m glad that *if* the current criminal justice system is going to continue, that there are some within it that might be more likely to care about the issues of marginalized people. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the system itself is a problem and the people who join it are helping to prop it up and give it legitimacy.
Because law enforcement agencies are composed of people who are not individual widgets within a homogeneous “oppressor class”.
Oppressor classes do not have to be homogeneous. In fact, they rarely are. Whites represent an oppressor class in this country, but they are not a homogeneous group. Within it it, there are white women, white men, and people of color benefiting from the hierarchy by being tokens. Non-disabled people represent an oppressor class. There are non-disabled people of color, white non-disabled people, rich non-disabled people, economically-disadvantaged non-disabled people. I could go on and on. The fact that they are individuals does not change the fact that they are a part of the oppressor class.
However, it would be the odd individual indeed who screamed out such a comment while thinking it was going to be taken as an expression of appreciation.
You’re getting close to what I’m getting at. You looked at the driver’s actions and drew conclusions based on what you saw and based on your prior experiences. Do you view that as prejudicial? I don’t. Likewise, if someone looks at Aimee’s case and concludes that it may well be another instance of police inaction/hatred/apathy towards transgendered people, it isn’t any more prejudiced than the conclusion that you made about the driver who screamed at you.
While I have previously acknowledged the many instances of police misconduct and corruption that have existed and do exist, I will also point out that the very common day-to-day behavior of police officers and sheriff’s deputies working in uniform exhibits what I consider the most profound moral principle an individual may embody.
“Many instances”? How many instances do those within marginalized groups have to be the victims of before you are willing to consider the fact that this may be a systemic problem? I’ve seen more than enough to be convinced. With regards to people with disabilities, I’d say that we can’t afford to give the criminal justice system any more benefit of the doubt, so I can understand why many people who are transgendered might feel the same. I can’t blame someone for seeing what has happened to their sisters and brothers and not wanting to suffer the same things at the hands of those within an oppressor class.
Every day, law enforcement officers, good and bad, go out and demonstrate a willingness to be injured or killed to protect people they’ve never met and might not like if they did meet them.
I don’t doubt that this may be what some of them are doing. However, some of us have seen too much to even be able to convince ourselves that this is the case with all law enforcement officers. There are plenty of them who use their position as a means of victimizing marginalized people with impunity. Sex workers, people of color, people who are transgendered, people with disabilities, undocumented workers et cetera…I could name numerous examples where people in each of these groups have been victimized by the criminal justice system–not just individual police officers. While some officers do run towards danger instead of running away from it, sometimes they ARE the danger and marginalized people are the ones who are forced into running away from them.
bint alshamsa
November 23, 2008 at 12:24 pm