By JOE RONCA
Contributing Writer
In recent weeks, several police officers have been murdered across the United States. Since August 26 alone, three law enforcement officers have been murdered in various parts of the country.
On that day, Henry Nelson, a police officer in Sunset, Louisiana, was shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence call. Two days later in Houston, Texas, Harris County Sherriff’s deputy Darren Goforth was shot fifteen times in the back as he pumped gas into his cruiser.
Most recently, Lt. Charles J. Gliniewicz, a thirty-year veteran of the police department and a father of four, was shot and killed on September 1 in a Chicago suburb by three suspects who have yet to be arrested or identified.
Clearly, police officers are being killed at an alarming rate in this country, but what is to blame for the despicable surge in anti-police violence? In my view, a certain amount of blame has to be placed at the feet of the Black Lives Matter movement for their violent anti-police rhetoric.
Let me first start by saying that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has done a great deal of good just by existing. It’s been a little over a year since the death of Michael Brown and the rioting that took place subsequently in the city of Ferguson. BLM has brought up legitimate issues, like the growing militarization of police in this country, the disproportionate number of African-Americans in the prison population, the disproportionate number of African-Americans killed during encounters with the police, and mandatory minimum sentencing laws that have resulted in many non-violent drug offenders serving life in prison.
These are all legitimate problems in the American criminal justice system that need to be addressed. However, BLM has used some questionable tactics and slogans in mobilizing support to address these issues. For example, only one day after Darren Goforth was shot execution-style at a gas station, BLM activists chanted “pigs in a blanket, fry em’ like bacon,” while they marched down a street in Minneapolis. For the uninformed, “pigs in a blanket” is a euphemism for cops in body bags.
It would be startling enough if this were an isolated incident, but this type of behavior is anything but isolated. In December of last year, BLM held a protest in New York City led by Rev. Al Sharpton at which protesters openly chanted, “What do we want? Dead cops!”
Chanting such a phrase while marching through the largest city in America indicates to me that this is simply standard operating procedure for BLM. This advocacy for violence against law enforcement officials has continued to take place across the nation by BLM activists and supporters.
This type of rhetoric has a definite impact on the actions of individuals. In December of 2014, Ismaaiyl Brinsley posted a picture on Instagram of a handgun with the caption “I’m putting wings on pigs today” and including the RIPEricGardner and RIPMikeBrown hashtags, commonly used by Twitter users who support BLM. Brinsley then proceeded to shot and kill two NYPD officers in Brooklyn while they sat in their car. He then turned the gun on himself.
Granted, Brinsley was a deranged madman who simply needed a slogan to justify his homicidal urges, but BLM gave him that slogan. The same is true about Shannon Miles, the man accused of killing Goforth, whose only known motive for the shooting so far is the fact that the deputy was wearing a law enforcement uniform.
This type of violence is clearly linked to the rhetoric coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement, as it provides a justification for those who already have homicidal tendencies to focus their attention on law enforcement officials as targets. However, the BLM movement seems to simply not care about the violence, as they have only intensified their rhetoric.
Many reports now indicate that BLM uses the writings of Assata Shakur in their activist training, and that the movement views her as a hero. Shakur, who is coincidentally the step-aunt of deceased rap legend Tupac, is currently listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, and has lived in Cuba for the almost 40 years since she escaped from prison, where she was serving time after being convicted of murdering a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973.
To me, Shakur sounds less like a hero and more like a cold-blooded murder who has only managed to escape American justice due to support from a foreign government that until recently was considered one of America’s greatest enemies.
If Black Lives Matter wants to be recognized and taken seriously as a movement for genuine social change, they need to tone down their inflammatory rhetoric and stop relying on the terrorist Shakur for guidance. It would send a strong message if President Obama came out and criticized the rhetoric, but he has thus far not done so. Therefore, it falls to BLM themselves to change their tune, otherwise they risk losing the support of all but their most hardcore devotees.
I’m not in any way disparaging or challenging the goals of Black Lives Matter. As I stated before, they have raised numerous issues related to the criminal justice system here in America. Are there systemic inequalities in the American justice system? Yes. Are there bad cops out there who hold racist views or step over the line in their on-the-job conduct? Of course there are.
However, they don’t represent the average police officer who just wants to protect their community and return home every night to their family. All BLM needs to do to help prevent tragedies like this from occurring in the future is to tone down the aspects of their rhetoric advocating violence against law enforcement.
In conclusion, black lives matter, as do police lives, and no one, no matter their race or profession, deserves to die.
