By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@ star-telegram.com
The impromptu memorial near the scene of a fatal police shooting in southeast Fort Worth is a monument to a person whose friends, family and neighbors say was a much-loved, highly respected individual.
He was not, they say, the "monster" that police describe after he was killed Monday night following what police said was a "routine traffic stop."
No one knows all the facts, and perhaps we never will. Regardless of what precipitated this latest tragedy, it has incensed a black community that for years has felt assaulted by a Police Department that many feel consistently abuses its power there.
Through the years there have been police initiatives and individual officers who were embraced by area residents who sadly have been preyed on by gangs, drug lords and other indigenous criminals. To a large degree, it is a community under siege by some of its own.
Still, too often in that part of town incidents involving police leave residents asking: Why? Was there no other way? Must we suffer another indignity, harassment, death at the hands of those hired to "protect and serve" us?
Charal T. "RaRa" Thomas' death brings those questions and more to mind while it leaves many wondering why the answers from the police are so slow, so nuanced and so frequently incomplete.
The Police Department's official statement about events that night, which has been well-documented in news reports, says the officer shot Thomas in self-defense.
Police say Thomas refused to exit his SUV and drove off with the officer's armed trapped in the window.
Thomas' three children, ages 7 to 11, were in the back seat.
Tuesday night an angry crowd, originally gathered for a prayer vigil, filled a parking lot near the spot where Thomas had been stopped. Most of them saw Thomas as a victim and wondered why police did not handle the situation differently.
Police cite the man's criminal record, which includes drug dealing, as a way of saying they were not encountering a saint.
Whether or not Thomas was a good man, and regardless of whether he or the officer made some bad judgments that night, the incident has raised tensions so much that some senior officers fear the slightest confrontation between police and a resident could erupt into a major disturbance.
Some area young people are talking of arming themselves and even "going to war with the police."
That's not just misguided thinking, it is insane.
Black leaders in Fort Worth must do their best to quell this rising unrest, and it is incumbent on the Police Department to address quickly and honestly the community's questions.
Each day since the shooting, people have placed flowers, teddy bears, balloons and handwritten notes at the roadside memorial.
I met Thomas' brother there Thursday. Kenneth Thomas said his brother was on his way to celebrate his 7-year-old daughter's birthday when he was killed.
She and her two siblings were so traumatized, he said, that they ran into a house of people they didn't know and hid under the bed.
The fact that Charal Thomas was killed in front of his children seems to upset friends and relatives the most.
And they are outraged, Kenneth Thomas said, that police kept the kids at the scene for several hours before taking them in for questioning, without a parent, "until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning."
Many questions remain, including issues about the surveillance, whether police policy and procedures were properly followed, the number of times Thomas was shot and how the children were treated in police custody.
While I urge the community to be calm and patient, I must insist that the police be more forthcoming.
Police Chief Jeff Halstead met privately with a group of black ministers Wednesday, an old technique often used to provide cover for the department when there is a controversial issue involving the African-American community.
That won't be enough in this case. The chief needs to deal directly and openly with the people, making sure they have all the facts in a timely manner.
If he doesn't, this sore is going to fester and continue to aggravate the relationship between the police and a community that already finds it hard to trust them.
Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.817-390-7775
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