Last July, a University of Cincinnati police officer pulled over 43-year-old Samuel DuBose because he was missing a front license plate on his car. Usually this interaction would be routine, but for the unarmed DuBose, it ended with a fatal shot to the head.
Now, the New York Times reports that the University of Cincinnati has reached an agreement that includes an apology to the family from the school president, Santa Ono, a memorial on campus commemorating DuBose, $4.85 million to the family and free tuition for all of DuBose’s children.
“DuBose’s death fueled demonstrations and intensified a debate on policing and race in the United States that helped lead to the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Reuters reported.
DuBose’s fate wasn’t the only event in Cincinnati to raise serious questions about uncalled-for police brutality against black Americans. According to the New York Times, “Kelly Brinson, 45, a psychiatric patient, and Everette Howard, 18, a student, died in 2010 and 2011 after campus officers fired stun guns at them, according to lawsuits filed by their families.”
Also noted by the New York Times, “Raegan Brooks, 18, who served as the family’s representative in the talks, said she was ‘very comfortable’ with the settlement. Still, she added, ‘At times I wanted to walk out because I felt like they were putting a price on my father’s life.’”
“We’re not happy, we’re not satisfied—those aren’t the words,” Terina DuBose-Allen, DuBose’s sister, told Cincinnati.com. “The settlement means we’re moving forward and we can heal.”
As humans and collegiettes, we must ask ourselves: Can money and free college tuition make inequality right?