Ode to Terence Crutcher: Who really killed him?

Terence-Crutcher-son, Ode to Terence Crutcher: Who really killed him?, Abolition Now!
Terence Crutcher holds his little boy. The 40-year-old father of four is described by those who knew him as a devoted father, a college student and a great gospel singer.

by Christopher Dye

You say
she killed him.
Not because
he’d put his hands up
or because
he’d turned
and walked away
or because
his car broke down.

Tulsa-PD-Officer-Betty-Shelby, Ode to Terence Crutcher: Who really killed him?, Abolition Now!
Tulsa PD Officer Betty Shelby was charged with 1st-degree manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher on the evening of Sept. 16, 2016.

She killed him
after
we’d trained her
in lethal violence
after
we’d given her
a gun and a badge
both loaded
with expectation
after
we’d trained her
to see him
not
as a stranded motorist
but
as a Black man
aka a threat.
After
we’d trained her
she gave him
a bullet.
And his family
a funeral.

Tulsa-PD-murders-stranded-motorist-Terence-Crutcher-091616-helicopter-image, Ode to Terence Crutcher: Who really killed him?, Abolition Now!
This image from a helicopter shows Tulsa PD murdering unarmed stranded motorist Terence Crutcher, who has his hands in the air.

We gave each other
tired stereotypes
and empty rhetoric.
While we kept
skeptical eyes
on each other.
When
will we talk
honestly
as one humanity
about
who really killed him?
It’s time for that dialog
now.

Send our brother some love and light: Christopher Dye, 805217, Darrington Unit, 59 Darrington Road, Rosharon, TX 77583.