Anger is swelling over the shooting of Renisha McBride, a 19-year-old black woman who was shot and killed when knocking on a door in a white neighborhood in Michigan after a car crash. Police in Dearborn Heights have identified the shooter, but have yet to charge the man, who has claimed he thought the young woman was an intruder when he shot her in the face. Over 100 people demonstrated outside the local police station Thursday night.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the shooter -- yet to be publicly named or charged by prosecutors -- has told police that he discharged his gun "accidentally" and "believed the girl was breaking into the home."
The young woman's family has responded with fury to the narrative. As noted here before, McBride's aunt demanded incredulously, "You see a young black lady on your porch and you shoot?!"
McBride's case, like Trayvon Martin's before it, draws scrutiny to laws and policies -- such as "stand your ground" -- that preference shooters in situations of "perceived threats," which all too often fall along racial fault lines.
Dream Hampton, a writer and filmmaker who helped organize Thursday's Dearborn Heights rally, told HuffPo, "I think that this is racism no matter who does or doesn't frame it this way ... That's what [we're taught]: Black bodies ... even at their most vulnerable, even when they are coming to you for help, even when they're female, they are a possible danger."
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has stated that they are investigating McBride's case and will release a statement once it is completed.
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