Tamir Rice Grand Jury

A few articles today about the Tamir Rice case. Twelve-year-old Tamir was holding a toy gun on a Cleveland, OH playground when a police officer shot and fatally wounded him. The grand jury announced today that no charges would be filed against the officer and his partner. The prosecutor argued that the law favors officers who must decide quickly if their lives are in danger or not. Here is a story about the announcement: https://gma.yahoo.com/prosecutor-announcement-tamir-rice-grand-jury-investigation-183917904--abc-news-topstories.html

Here is the story in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/12/tamir-rice-indictment/422049/?utm_source=SFFB

Here is a powerful observation by Charles Blow, from last January, in his NYT piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/opinion/charles-m-blow-tamir-rice-and-the-value-of-life.html?smid=fb-nytopinion&smtyp=cur

Here is an NPR piece about the way such cases are handled: "[S]ince Ferguson, there's been a growing sense that the real conflict of interest is higher up — at the level of the local prosecutors.For prosecutors and grand juries, the decision to charge a cop is different from deciding whether to charge a civilian. There are good legal reasons for this — after all, cops are allowed to shoot people, if circumstances warrant. But ...'Prosecutors do not seem to approach police shooting cases the way that they approach ordinary shooting cases'…"
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/02/458175104/answering-the-tough-question-of-who-polices-the-police?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

Also: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tamir-rice-timothy-mcginty_5681d451e4b014efe0d91562

And a story about the boy's family: http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2015/12/tamir_rice_family_is_in_pain_a.html#incart_maj-story-1

And yet another thought-provoking essay: http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/stephen-henderson/2015/12/28/black-lives-tamir-rice-and-americas-uncivil-history/77998986/

And… a good article that argues "there never was a war on cops" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/30/its-official-there-never-was-a-war-on-cops/