Last week will go down in our nation’s history as one of the bloodiest in terms of police officer deaths.
The senseless killings of five Dallas police officers at the hands of one lone attacker, made it the deadliest attack on police officers since September 11. Seven others were wounded in the attack.
Subsequently, what happened over the weekend amounted to some of the most violent protests and malicious acts of civil disobedience I’ve seen on American soil since the Civil Rights era.
A protester yells at police officers in riot gear after being forced off the motor way in front of the the Baton Rouge Police Department Headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, July 9, 2016. Several hundred protesters, including members of the New Black Panther party, blocked the road causing police to close the road and move the crowd with riot police. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)
While the protests went largely unreported by national news organizations as they were occurring, subsequent reports of the protests indicate arrests were made in Chicago and Atlanta, gunfire hit the San Antonio police headquarters, protesters shut down I-94 in St. Paul, while Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson was arrested in Baton Rouge. As a result, numerous police officers were injured in several cities when objects such as fireworks, rocks, bottles, rebar and bricks were lobbed at them.
The shootings in Dallas and the protests across the nation were supposedly in response to two recent killings of black men by white police officers in Minneapolis and Louisiana. Evidence of both shootings are being examined to determine whether the killings by the police officers were justified.
However, the lack of findings didn’t stop the knee-jerk reaction of protesters across the nation nor did it stop the killer in Dallas. In both cases an assumption was made and deliberate action was taken.
Why? Because apparently a false narrative that black men are being killed in record numbers by police is sufficient enough.
The nation needed its leadership to calm irrational emotions. Instead of that happening, President Barack Obama, interrupting his Warsaw trip to speak to the American people, did what he has repeatedly done following a police incident.
Obama once again criticized police officers in his speech without knowing all of the facts. This has been a pattern of his since 2009, when he initially made his now infamous judgmental statement of police when he said they “acted stupidly” by arresting an African-American scholar. Police were responding to a report which had been called in about two black men attempting to break into the scholar’s home.
Obama’s latest speech was no different. He condemned the criminal justice system when he said prior to the facts being revealed in the recent shootings of two African-American men, “We have seen tragedies like this too many times. These are not isolated incidents. They’re symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system.”
He further told the American public from his Warsaw hotel, “African Americans are 30 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over. Last year, African-Americans were shot by police at more than twice the rates of whites.”
President Obama sits down with the media in Madrid, Spain, at the Palacio de la Moncloa Sunday (Image source: YouTube/MSNBC)
He didn’t offer any references to back up his claims.
The facts show Obama’s claims may be entirely inaccurate. The Guardian, a British online newspaper, set out in 2015 to prove that police officers killed more African-Americans than white people. What they discovered from actual statistics, revealed that out of 1,146 people who were killed that year by police officers, 582 were white and 306 were African-Americans.
The New Observer went one step further to dispel the same false rhetoric advanced by the Black Lives Matter group, when it claimed more blacks are killed than whites by police.
The New Observer’s author asserted in November 2015 that “Far more white people than blacks are killed by police in America, both proportionally to their population sizes and in real numbers, completely contrary to the anti-white propaganda put out by the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign and its allies.”
He referred to The Guardian newspaper, as an extreme left-wing group who gathered statistics in hopes of proving just how racist police are in America.
Instead, according to the author, “Not only do these figures show that, in real numbers, more whites are killed by police than blacks, but, when contrasted in proportion to the crime rates of each group, whites are in fact far more likely to be killed by police than any other race, especially when it comes to violent criminal offenses.”
I’ve never heard Obama reference these statistics in any of his speeches.
And what about Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s leadership in attempting to unite the country when she made a statement to Americans following the deaths of the two African-American men and the Dallas shootings? While some of her speech appears to be focused toward bringing Americans together, another part of her speech is perplexing to say the least.
“To those who seek to improve our country through peaceful protest and protective speech, I want you to know that your voice is important. Do not be discouraged by those that would use your lawful actions as a cover for their heinous violence. We will continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future,” Lynch said.
Demonstrators march through downtown Atlanta to protest the shootings of two black men by police officers, Friday, July 8, 2016. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
To what or whom is she referring when she says "…your lawful actions as a cover for their heinous violence?" Is this a reference once again by a leader of this country to those who were protesting the deaths of the two African-American men recently killed by police officers without knowing whether the shootings were justified or not? Her statement is a very divisive statement indeed with no basis in truth.
Americans of all races need to ask themselves why are the president, attorney general and other leaders continuing to possibly cause the greatest racial divide this country has ever seen. Are they benefitting from keeping us divided? Many would answer a resounding, yes!
Those who are in control remain in control by dividing the races and by keeping our world in constant chaos. Protests which have started out peacefully have devolved into lawlessness over time, eventually escalating into more illegal activity. The recent tragic event in Dallas and the illegal incidents which took place over the weekend, are proof that chaos is growing.
Never forget that as a nation, we are predominantly compassionate, loving, respectful and forgiving people who are flawed and as such, are accepting of the flaws of others. Remember also as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.”
What we have seen recently would not have been condoned by Dr. King and shouldn’t be condoned by Americans. Most Americans do not condone the violence but they would have us believe most of us are in favor of it.
Remember who you truly are despite the agenda that is being advanced. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” as Dr. King once said. Don’t let “darkness” win and #DontBuyTheLies!
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