I haven't posted in awhile but a tragic event which occured recently made me really think about racial profiling to stereotyping and the ugliness of humanity... *On Dec 31st, police were responding to complaints of graffiti at 900 N. Walnut Ave around 1pm. "Officers searched the neighborhood for the tagger, but with little information to go on, they couldn't find him", said La Habra police Lt. Tom Dutton. An hour later, another call came into to police dispatchers, this time the caller said the suspected tagger was near Walnut Avenue and Whittier Boulevard – and he was armed. Two police officers found the man outside Seven Gold Liquor Store at 545 W. Whittier Boulevard just after 2 p.m., Dutton said. The man, Mike Cho, confronted officers, and he was shot at least once, Dutton said. It is unclear how many times the man was shot or whether both officers shot at him.* I'm not here to prove a man's innocence or guilt but to underline the ugliness of humanity. After reading this, I was more troubled by comments made regarding this incident. "he deserved it." "don't mess with cops." "no sympathy from me." the comment that bothered me the most was "Come on people what if you were walking around cho's country with a crow bar acting like a fool....the cops there would do the same just you would never hear about it....LHPD keep up the good work!" Sad to see how we lost so much love and compassion in today's society. No one ever deserves death and even the most sinful individual deserves sympathy for they do not know what lies ahead of them after death. It's also sad to judge someone without even being there or witnessing the situation. It's even worse when a life is lost and as far as we know, he may have been someone who was just getting something at a liquor store. who knows... Like I said before, I'm not here to justify anyone but say "hey, you know, there is something not right here..." the officer's claimed that Mike approached them in a threatening manner..but here's some pics from a secruity camera. It's interesting what you can find on the internet these days... 
Apparently, you see Mike walking away before the fatal incident. I guess even these pictures could be misleading because it only shows couple of clips. However, the question of excessive force still remains...Why? Haven't you ever seen clips of deranged man carrying a sawed off shotgun and they are taken down by a beanbag? I did. I also saw clips of officer taking down a woman with a knife just by bare hands. So what caused the officers to take down a man with an alleged crowbar with a bullet who didn't seem to be threatening them? Mike's untimely death also brought to my attention that we are still a minority in "our" country. It's funny how many individuals thought Cho was not from America just because he was asian not knowing he was an American citizen. Since I read so many racial/stereotypical comments about this matter, I even wonder if it was racially motivated? Could the shooting have been prevented if he was white? Could this have gathered more publicity if he wasn't asian? Where the hell is the Asian Jesse Jackson when you need one? I hope this incident won't end up like a fart in the wind where the media just drops it as if nothing ever happened...which is very typical with news regarding anything involing asian americans...Well, as far as I know, the incident happened in broad daylight, there were many witnesses, and there was a security video as well. It's only a matter of time before the truth will be told... I don't know who he was but I can honestly say that Mike or anyone else for that matter, didn't deserve death. Mike was a human being who had people he loved and people who loved him back... Condolences to Mike's Family and Friends. 1 John 4:7-8 "7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. " | 
