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It’s a sad commentary when the rights of people to peacefully demonstrate against a perceived injustice have come under fire because of the actions of one person. NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed execution style by a POS named Ismaaiyl Brinsley, while they sat in their patrol car outside the Tompkins Houses in Brooklyn on Saturday. This is a tragedy of immense proportions and I am deeply saddened by their murders. As Adam Lanza murdered students at Sandy Hook Elementary, we were left grappling for answers. Brinsley should never have been able to get his hands on a gun, given his extensive criminal history, but he did. Adam Lanza shot his mother first before going on a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook. Ismaaiyl Brinsley followed a slightly similar path. He shot his ex-girlfriend in Owing Mills, Md., first and headed to Brooklyn on a bus, but not before posting his intentions on Instagram. There was more to Brinsley’s actions than just revenge. There are hints that he may have had some mental health issues. Still, there is no justification for committing such a heinous act. But what we don’t need at this juncture is fingerpointing.
Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the cops were killed because President Obama told everyone to hate cops. You will recall race relations were at its lowest levels during his tenure as New York City mayor.
We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police,” Giuliani said during an appearance on Fox News on Sunday. “The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”
Social media devolved into a frenzied mess Saturday night as the discourse over the senseless murder of Officers Liu and Ramos veered into ugly territory. Many boldly proclaimed Mayor Bill de Blasio, Attorney General Eric Holder and Rev. Al Sharpton have blood on their hands. Fox News personality Sean Hannity tweeted “Last weekend. “What do we want “DEAD COPS” when do we want it “NOW”. Innocent cops killed today. If you chanted U have blood on your hands!” Former New York governor David Pataki, who is said to be eyeing a 2016 presidential run, quickly tweeted, “Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio.” “Clueless” actress Stacey Dash, now a regular on Fox News for her “conservative” views, was blasted by Black Twitter for tweeting “these murders are the natural result of the #jihad on cops that @TheRevAl & @DeBlasioNYC has called for. They should be held accountable.” Really? A jihad on cops? That is clearly an inflammatory statement to make. The freak-out spilled over into Sunday with Al Sharpton trending on Twitter as he seemed to scramble to defuse any verbal attacks coming his way. He claimed he has received numerous death threats.
Had foot soldiers like Rep. John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Johnnie Carr, actor Harry Belafonte and many others decided not to use their right to protest racial discrimination and injustices, we would have never moved beyond the ugly days of Jim Crow in America. To blame protesters, who are calling for an overhaul of policing in this country, for the officers’ deaths, is disingenous to everything America stands for. We have to find common ground. Fast. Stacey Dash carelessly tweeting there is a jihad on cops is meant to inflame tensions and blame law-abiding protesters. In case she hasn’t noticed, had Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others shied away from protests, then she probably wouldn’t be on Fox News at this juncture, unless of course, she denied her heritage and pulled a Peola from the “Imitation of Life.”
In the aftermath of the Staten Island grand jury clearing officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, tempers flared between the New York Police Department officers and Mayor Bill de Blasio. He should have handled it a lot better. On Saturday, some of the officers turned their backs on him as he made his way through the crowd for a press conference about the assassination of the officers. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton needs to defuse the escalating tensions between the mayor and the police. It doesn’t help that Pat Lynch, the head of New York’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, told the mayor he wasn’t welcome at the funerals of any fallen officers, continued his dangerous rhetoric by saying “blood is on the hands” of de Blasio. He said, “There’s blood on many hands tonight — those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protests that try to tear down what New York City police officers did every day.” In other words, there should be no protests for perceived injustices. That’s the America Pat Lynch wants to see. The reality is, the NYPD also has blood on its hands. Sean Bell was riddled with bullets for no reason. An unarmed Amadou Diallo died in a hail of bullets.
Police commissioner Bill Bratton must either step down, or find a way to get his boss and the police on common ground. Clearly the NYPD has had troubled history with the black community that has resulted in millions paid out to settle police brutality claims. Mayor de Blasio needs to find balance between having the back of the police force and meeting the demands of the citizenry of New York City. I think both men have the capacity to turn this around and they should. Either that or Bill de Blasio will be a one-term mayor.
The fingerpointing, posturing and conflation of what led to the assassination of the two officers is bordering on lunacy. It’s clear that Bill de Blasio and Bill Bratton have dropped the ball. The mayor needs to reassure residents of New York City that they have a right to peacefully protest. He should also reach out to the police department. He can’t appeal to one side and ignore the other. The police, including Pat Lynch, should also recognize that using the words of a dying man, “I can’t breathe,” to mock peaceful protesters who were excercising their democratic right to protest, really sow seeds of discord and foment unrest. Pat Lynch doesn’t have to resort to bullying and seemingly racist rhetoric to defend his officers.
I will also admonish those in various predominantly black communities across the U.S. who seek to do damage, to rob and kill innocent people. Black-on-black crime is at the heart of any discussion on how to deal with the police. A high crime rate was what brought Officers Liu and Ramos to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area yesterday. We are destroying our communities and each other in the process. How do you explain Demario Bailey being murdered in cold blood over a jacket? How many more mothers have to cry out in pain over their sons being gunned down in their communities? Police brutality isn’t the only issue we should have a frank discussion about. We have to admit our culpability in many confrontations with police. The same level of outrage that is being displayed over the police shooting deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, should also be displayed in dealing crime in predominantly black communities.
In closing, I found it reprehensible that people would celebrate the murders of two officers who were doing their jobs — protecting the community. The fact is we all deserve better than this. A bullied mayor, an obnoxious and out-of-control union boss, an incompetent police commissioner, a sharply divided citizenry and two dead cops are a recipe for disaster. It’s a powder-keg waiting to explode. We should demand better. Instead of simply saying #BlackLivesMatter, we should be saying #AllLivesMatter, whether you are black, white, Asian, gay or straight, young, old, a cop or a civilian….
This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.