To the Editor:
The letter from Susan van Alsenoy (“Rightfully protesting,” Dec. 11) regarding the protests and her suggestion that the “decisions” from grand juries have permitted police officers to kill black men with impunity, surprised me.
Absent from her misguided opinion are the facts that grand juries used to come to their conclusions.
The young man who was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. had just robbed a convenience store, attacked the officer in his squad car, attempted to take his gun, and was shot at very close range, facts that were testified to by witnesses who also were African-American.
The man who died in New York had a record of 31 arrests, was apprehended for a breach of the laws, and was resisting arrest. The grand juries deliberated for a long time with the facts that are totally ignored by van Alsenoy.
The real problem facing these communities is a lack of jobs and the self-respect that comes with being self-supporting and contributing to society rather than looting and burning the communities where they live.
Worse still is the current administration’s amnesty plan for illegal immigrants that takes away millions of jobs that might otherwise provide employment in these communities.
