by B. R. GOWANI
14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta
a Chilean, was just six-month-old in the US
lots of dreams and great many plans
all were cut shot in a few seconds by a police bullet
shw wanted to become a US citizen
but she just turned into one of the statistics of police violence
police was invited by the store people in North Hollywood
(where Valentina and her mother were shopping for Christmas)
because a deranged person was attacking people with bike-lock
police killed the attacker, 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez
the Guardian’s Sam Levine described the scene:
“Roughly a dozen officers showed up at once, guns drawn. One officer in charge appears to briefly try to deescalate by saying ‘slow down’ and ‘get distance,’ but as soon as the officer actually sees Daniel, he escalates to lethal force, firing three bullets without pause or commands.”
a stray bullet fatally hit Valentina who died in her mother’s arms
her mother expressed her grief ; she was dismayed at police difference:
“All of a sudden we felt an explosion that pulled us both to the ground…I had no idea she had been shot. Her body went limp. I tried shaking her but her body went limp.”
“As I lay screaming for help, the police did not come to help me or my daughter, but I kept screaming.” “When the police finally came, they took me out of the dressing room and left my daughter laying there. I wanted them to help her, but they just left her lying there alone.”
“Valentina meant the world to her family, her friends and her schoolmates.”
LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers killed 17 people in 2021
over a 1,000 people gets murdered by police in the US every year
many of the police officers have military style rifles – why?
police uses violence because they know they can get away with it
their unions are very very strong; they fight doggedly
(underpaid/overworked Amazon workers aren’t allowed to form a union)
many stores have no security guards – reason being to increase profit
there will be talk of justice, reforming the police, and so on
nothing happens as the long history of police brutalities continues
till another Valentina or someone else becomes victim of police firing
the same cycle of bullshit will get repeated — with no result
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com