A clear head may have prevailed. A sense of common decency and human courtesy may have changed Alfred’s fate. Instead Gonsalves began yelling demands, “Get your F’ing hands up!”, “Get the F on the ground!” Olango was not treated like a man in distress. He was treated like an animal. The officer, who had demonstrated a significant lapse in judgment, was allowed to make a life or death decision. Officer Gonsalves became the hunter and Alfred Olango the hunted. Olango’s skin color itself made him a viable threat. It did not matter that there was no crime in progress. It did not matter that this man had not broken any law. His crime was his blackness. He was treated like an animal, stalked, cursed at, and belittled. The officer backed him into a corner, his gun already drawn, the officer yelling expletives over and over. The police department under pressure from the community, released propaganda and the American public quickly made their decision to stand with the officer. Instead of the complete video and audio being released, they released a still picture of Olango holding a vape pen in what they stated was a shooting stance. Where was the video? Why was this picture released? A picture of him surrendering the vape pen would have looked the same way. Why was Olango cornered? If you examine the video footage you will see a tree on his right, a vehicle behind him, another officer on his left, and Gonsalves in front of him. This was not an arrest, it was a distress call for trauma! Why was this call treated like an apprehension of an armed suspect who had just committed a crime? Why was the video then later released strategically without audio? Why was this propaganda so readily accepted by the American people? Why are the same racist notions still prevalent in this country? Why did people justify his murder, saying he should have been deported? Liberal feminist groups remained notably quiet that a sexually unstable parasite was allowed to legally carry a gun? The San Diego District Attorney politically grouped Olango and other victims of state sanctioned murder into one press conference clearing all of the officers of any wrong doing. Six months later and the pain has not numbed. Olango was LYNCHED for being a big Black threat. His only crime does not have a code in a law book or a police manual. The only code it falls under is the code of silence upheld by crooked cops and a botched legal system. His only crime was being a Black man. Alfred Olango, like so many others, was was guilty the day he was born.
Last photo of Alfred Olango with his best friend. Photo courtesy of Olango Family