The bias was proved-and, as a lot of us would argue, the bias in the training accompanied by the inherent racism of "broken windows" policing, a form of policing which ends up resulting in people in black neighborhoods being subjected to constant police harassment over trivial offenses, such as simply standing on a street in their own neighborhood talking with friends- much earlier than the cases you've cited. Those men-neither of whom deserved, even with whatever personal characteristics they possess, anything like what they received- were simply the latest examples.
I'll review from the moment this first became an issue.
Trayvon Martin had done nothing to even deserve being confronted by George Zimmerman. He was guilty of nothing more than walking home late on a Sunday night with the snack he'd purchased at a convenient store. Zimmerman, who was just a neighborhood watch guy and not even a cop, was TOLD by his dispatcher not to hassle Trayvon, who, again, had done nothing to deserve being confronted and had every reason to think that Zimmerman, who was simply another civilian human being, meant him harm. The shooting happened because a Zimmerman confronted an innocent young man late at night for no reason- Trayvon could have fairly claimed to be covered under the "stand your ground" laws.
Tamir Rice was a twelve year-old kid playing with a toy gun. on the unedited video, we saw the two Cleveland police officers roll up and shoot him in cold blood without making any effort to see what was actually going on.
Philando Castile was stopped by a cop for a trivial reason-a busted tail light- and then the same cop, while Philando was doing everything he possibly could to cooperate with the cops impossible request-to produce his ID-which the cop was demanding in an aggressive rage- by reaching into the pocket he had to reach into, the pocket in which he was carrying, as he informed the cop, his handgun- the fact that he announced the gun was there was proof he had no intention of shooting the officer, and in any case Philando would never have intentionally started a shootout with two cops while his girlfriend and their young daughter were sitting in the car with him- and was gunned down by the cop for no reason-the same cop would wouldn't allow Philando's girlfriend, who was unarmed and also totally cooperative, to apply pressure to the bullet wounds the same cop had just unjustifiably inflicted on Philando- who, it should be noted, was unconscious and therefore totally neutralized as any sort of a threat- and took as long as possible to summon medical aid, even though there was no reason not to get an ambulance to the scene as quickly as possible and even though there was no reason for the officer to keep his gun drawn-or, for that matter, for the officer's partner not to have summoned medical assistance for Philando himself, since it is likely Philando could have been saved had an ambulance been called quickly.
Breonna Taylor was murdered in her sleep when the cops did a no-knock raid on her apartment-they had the wrong address and never identified themselves even when they entered the apartment. Breonna's boyfriend, assuming that a home invasion was in place, fired ONE shot back, but any who had a gun would have done the same in that position- and the police killed Breonna, IN HER BED, without asking a single questions.
On the day he was killed, George Floyd was guilty of nothing more-and it's looking less and less likely that he was even guilty of this- of passing a counterfeit $20 bill- a thing a person can do without even realizing they are doing it, because it is as likely as anything that that person was handed the funny money by somebody else as a scam. George was no saint, and nobody ever claimed that he was- but the point is that he did nothing, NOTHING AT ALL, to justify having Officer Chauvin put his boot on his neck for nine minutes and refuse to lift the boot, even though George Floyd was clearly subdued and harmless and the cops had no justification for doing anything to him other than simply cuffing him, putting him in the back of the squad car, and driving away.
And even if Jacob Blake was a rapist- a fact not proved at this point- even then, there was no justification for his being shot seven times in the back, when he was just slowly sauntering to his car and the cops could easily have just grabbed his arms and put him in whatever restraints they use in Kenosha. It doesn't matter what sort of person he was- what matters is that there was no need to use that lavel of savagery against him.
That's why the "character test" you want to apply is beside the point- nothing justified the means in these cases.
