The shooting of David Walker

You had a lot to say about last week's column on the shooting of David Walker by a Seattle police officer.

Walker was shown on television skipping down the street, smiling and holding a knife in one hand, ignoring officers who were trying to get him to stop.

He raised his free hand; one of the officers shot and killed him.

Sometime before police arrived to subdue him, he had stolen some juice or milk and fired two shots at a store guard. Walker had a history of both crime and mental illness. He also was black.

I wrote about my gut reaction when my son asked about the shooting, and about trying to determine what systemic changes need to be made to reduce the likelihood of similar tragedies.

Race, mental illness and our expectations of the police all need to be examined.

Here are some of your reactions:

Linda thought I had some good points, but that I was forgetting about Walker's behavior:

"The events leading up to the shooting were:

"David Walker robbed a store;

"Fired at least two shots indiscriminately;

"Ran down the street flailing a large knife, while still in the possession of the gun;

"Refused to stop when ordered by police (he knew they were police).

"He was terribly dangerous to everyone around, including himself.

"He had to be stopped immediately. Race isn't the issue here. Safety is. We all, no matter our ethnic backgrounds, have the right to go about our lives peacefully and in relative safety. David Walker's actions threatened many people.

"The deeper question here is: Why was David Walker, being mentally unstable at best, allowed to obtain the gun and knife? He needed protection at that level. The issue had gone way too far and was way too dangerous when the police finally acted upon it."

I think I did see all of that and Michael agreed:

"I am a police officer (white) in King County. I just read your article. It was well written and you made some very good points. It was written in a very fair way. You clearly stepped back and took a look at the overall picture and didn't just blame the police as people seem to do so much anymore. I enjoy your column and wanted to encourage you to continue the good work you do."

Several officers followed Walker down the street and did not make the decision to shoot him. The standard the best officers set ought to be what we expect of all officers.

I said race was one issue in the shooting, Richard disagreed:

"The apparent use of excessive force in the present instance will no doubt be fully investigated, but until we learn the outcome of the investigation, let's not be too quick to play the race card.

"This comes from an admirer of your column, a reader who has heard you speak on two occasions and been much impressed by your sense of fairness and open-mindedness."

The race card. Seeing that phrase in a sentence is like finding a hair in my milk. The race card gets played every day. Did you see two stories in yesterday's papers? One detailed housing discrimination against black people in tested Seattle neighborhoods. The other was a national study of juvenile justice that found clear discrimination against black people at every level. That, my friend, is the race card in action.

Diane would take issue with Richard. I said race was one of several factors to consider. For her, race weighted most heavily:

"I read your article of the police shooting, and so many images ran though my mind. Blacks are always so easy to forgive and forget, without the thought of how many of our people had to die to just get us this far. I think of Harriet (Tubman), leader of the underground railroad.

"What if she had thought like the modern blacks of today, left the South and said, `Well, we have to learn to forgive and forget,' and never looked or went back? Where would so many blacks be right now? Free?

"If our forefathers had the same mentality that the well-to-do blacks have today, we would all still be in slavery, because they would only be thinking of themselves!

"Those police that shot that young black man had choices: Shoot the hand that held the weapon in it. Shoot the young man in the leg to stop him. Kill him was a decision that they chose to do. Not something that they had to do. I choose not to forget that.

"Since I have worked and taught in the juvenile-justice system and worked with young people with bad attitudes and foul mouths, I know it's not easy. But it's the work I chose to do and with the kids I chose to work with. If I don't like the job, then I need to find another one where kids sit in their little seats and just listen without a word.

"I will not forget what the Seattle Police did to that young man. It was wrong and it should not be forgotten. They don't like the job, give it to someone with the heart and soul to handle it. Many times young people are shot by police just because they fear them. Doesn't matter if they see a gun or not. Just the fact that they are young and black can mean the difference between life and death in this country and it's wrong."

People often focus on the thing that has the most impact in their lives, and for Mike, that is mental illnesses:

"I am troubled by the killing and yet I support the police in general, and yet we need to do more . . . We need to separate the race issue from the mental-health issue, but for a black mentally ill man . . . it is even more important!

"I have been dealing with a mentally ill daughter for 8 years and I still don't do very well at it, so how do I expect the police to handle it any better? You covered a lot of bases very well. Change may come slowly, but we still have to push . . . in our way.

"I am a 56-year-old white guy with a unique perspective.

"My daughter is a 30-year-old bag lady on the streets of Seattle. It tears me up inside to say that, but it is true.

"You cannot reason with her or give her too much money. She will lose it or give it away. Nine years ago, she sold her $2,500 car for $400 and lost her wallet with the money in it that day on the train.

"She is one of those that is afflicted with an untreated mental illness: schizophrenia.

"The laws are such that it is almost impossible to get her help. I have found that I cannot do anything for my daughter; she just won't let me.

"So I volunteer with WAMI, the Washington Alliance for the Mentally Ill. My hope is that if I can help someone else, maybe someone will help her."

Lynne thought I'd handled race just right:

"I particularly marveled at your ability to cover the Walker shooting in a way that invited all ethnic groups to care, ponder the alternatives and mourn the loss of another human being due to what appeared to be a misunderstanding of two types of people (I do not use the word `misunderstanding' in a simplistic way).

"In all the media coverage about the incident, where groups of people were shown reacting, commiserating and problem-solving, they were all blacks. Each time I saw that, I felt that there was not an arena where nonblacks could join in and contribute their thoughts and feelings to the unrest. It felt exclusive.

"When I began reading your article I thought, `Here it comes again: This is going to be presented as a black issue that only blacks could possibly relate to or understand.' And yet the message I received from your article is that you are fighting your automatic reactions, you are rising above a human response and suggesting an entirely subjective way of dealing with the cause of the problem in a way that includes all colors and sexes of people.

"Do we really want the police making judgment calls like that? If not, what can we do to re-establish our goals of our police departments?

"You acknowledge that they have dangerous jobs, that they have to make decisions that we are never put in the position to do in our office jobs - good for you.

"If they are using flawed logic, let's ask ourselves if we have not somehow conveyed to them that this is the correct logic. If we don't agree, let's re-establish guidelines.

"I don't know the answers, but when you talk like that, you get an entire population thinking of a solution. I thank you for that and hope you can continue to present tough subjects in such an effective manner.

"Keep talking to me, because I'm listening."

Thanks for listening to me. I'll keep listening to you, too.

Jerry Large's column appears Sundays and Thursdays in the Scene section of The Seattle Times. You can reach him c/o The Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Phone: 206-464-3346. Fax: 206-464-2261. E-mail: jlarge@seattletimes.com.