The United States military just killed an American citizen on the streets of an American city
On Sunday, National Guardsmen shot and killed a man in Memphis. Much about what led to those tragic final moments is still unclear and the investigation remains ongoing. But what information we have confirmed should concern every person reading this. The Guard was responding to calls for service alongside Memphis Police. That means uniformed military personnel are working the streets as local law enforcement. NO TROOPS AS COPS Memphis and Shelby County leaders publicly opposed this deployment before it began. The Republican governor explicitly promised that guardsmen would NOT be involved in law enforcement activities. But federal troops answered police calls anyway. The Posse Comitatus Act was enacted in 1878 to keep the military out of civilian law enforcement. The leaders who wrote it understood that soldiers policing civilians is one of the surest ways a free country stops being free. Memphis on Sunday ran right past ...