Franky Benítez

I am now cynical enough to believe that whenever a Latino dies under suspicious actions by law enforcement, the lack of national outrage no longer surprises me. Cases such as David Sal Silva’s in-custody death or Anastasio Hernandez Rojas’ Border Patrol death raised serious issues about the excessive use of deadly force, yet how many people in this country really knew or cared about those tragedies? How many national Latino organizations shouted in front of TV cameras that justice be served? Where was the 24/7 coverage?

The latest example comes from Santa Rosa, California. On October 22, 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot seven times in a span of about 26 seconds by Sonoma County deputy Erick Gelhaus after Gelhaus, who started shooting before his partner even got out of the patrol car, saw that Lopez was carrying what appeared to be an assault rifle. According to police, Gelhaus warned…