She wrote the lyrics. Lyrics are not a song.

Here are the chorus lyrics:

If she hadn’t had the unbelievable presence of mind to record, the narrative would have been completely different, and I shudder to think of what would have become of her, the only adult witness.

She is. If she hadn’t gotten this all on tape Philando would have likely been “just another thug who pulled a gun on a cop” and she would have risked being in serious trouble too. You can never have enough proof.

It’s pure survival instinct. Don’t waste energy on shouting or flailing, don’t draw the predator’s attention to you etc. The ones who don’t react this way could be seen as the abnormal ones.

I remember watching her video and feeling very conscious of the fact that she had probably seen the same Alton Sterling-related video probably only a few hours before her boyfriend got shot, same as the rest of us.

This woman has a vagina of steel, managing to keep her cool and record the cop who shot her boyfriend dead for no reason while at the same time trying to keep her daughter calm, at the same time staying calm enough to call the officer sir. She is brave as fuck and fwiw has my personal respect and admiration.

Isn’t that kind of calm a fairly standard reaction to trauma?

I have a theory of why she was so calm....

Agree wholeheartedly. She probably also worried that if she wasn’t 100% calm the officer might shoot her next. After he shot and killed Philando Castille he flipped out and started screaming and cursing. He wasn’t even close to being stable.

As a mom i identified with the mother as soon as i saw the video. I know that calm. I was pulled over by a police officer who did not want to let me go. He kept coming back to my car asking more questions. I did not have nor was i on any drugs or alcohol. License, reg, insurance in check. I even had a gold card from…

Also, the broken taillight reason was BS. Police scanner recordings revealed that the officer pulled them over because they might be suspects in a robbery because he saw a “wide nose.” They were straight up racially profiled (sadly unsurprising).

and followed what many of us recognize as unofficial protocol

This woman is a god damn treasure. Since cops don’t seem to want to introduce anything that could cause them to be liable for a fuck up citizen video is the closest we have currently.

I always got the impression her calm demeanor was due to how THIS LOUSY COP SHIT HAPPENS FUCKING CONSTANTLY.

I cry when I get really mad. Like I’m furious and then all of a sudden tears are running down my face and I’m trying not to cry and then I get mad that I’m crying, which makes me cry even MORE. I can’t help it. Hugs.

Telling people who are criers that they have bad life skills isn't very nice. Also it's kind of pointless because most criers really can't help it and it doesn't mean anything about their competence.

If that is her crying in public cry, I am truly impressed. She simply looks like she is removing an errant speck of mascara from the corner of her eyelid. My face turns red and I gasp and tears jump out of my eyes. Its truly a sight to behold.

I cry easily, too. I don’t think people understand it’s not something you can really control. It is just a response to emotions like yelling. I have yelled and cried when I found out my leftovers were eaten. I mean that is something you look forward to all day and when you’re hungry and/or tired you get extra…

You literally did blame her.

That seems harsh. I don’t know about Cooper’s reputation (I’m sure I’ve read stuff about him, just don’t remember), but do you blame everyone who’s ever made a poor romantic choice for their resulting unhappiness? It happens, people make mistakes and wind up with someone who makes them miserable. It doesn’t mean that…