Some observations on the fatal shootings by police in Baton Rouge and Minnesota and the killing of five police officers in Dallas:
· The terrible irony of the massacre of the officers in Dallas at a demonstration against police violence is that the Dallas police seem to have made a genuine effort to improve relations with the city’s African-American community. That was evident in the relaxed atmosphere between police and demonstrators before the shooting started Thursday night. The Washington Post had a good report on that, and on how the police put their lives in danger to protect the demonstrators, and how the demonstrators appreciated what the police did.
When Sharay Santora and her two children first arrived in downtown Dallas on Thursday to join the Black Lives Matter protest, she said the interaction between marchers and officers was peaceful, loving. Officers lined the streets as a massive crowd marched past.
“They gave us high-fives, hugs, were taking selfies,” Santora, 37, told The Post. “It was such an instance of love and understanding, that ‘I’m here for you.’ You could feel it. There was no animosity in the air. That was the feeling throughout.”
Shortly after 9 p.m., near El Centro College, participants turned around to peacefully march back. Then shots rang out. Pause. A second burst of gunfire round. Santora said a man dressed in white, bearing a cross, was yelling at marchers to clear the streets.
“As we were taking cover, you see the Dallas PD and the DART officers turning toward what is active fire,” Santora said.
Images and video show officers pulling fallen comrades out of harm’s way, of officers “running toward gunfire, from an elevated position, with no chance to protect themselves and to put themselves in harm’s way, to make sure citizens can get to a place of security,” Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Friday.
Santora said marchers noted “these people who came out to protect us, we’re going to be out there for them.”
· Unfortunately Texas’s lieutenant governor couldn’t restrain himself from saying something idiotic, calling those protesting police violence “hypocrites” because they ran for cover when the shooting started– which in fact the police told them to do.
· Donald Trump accidentally said something reasonable and even-handed about the shootings before getting back on track by blaming Obama and Hillary Clinton. Even Trump’s supporter and potential running mate Newt Gingrich acknowledged, “It’s more dangerous to be black in America. You’re substantially more likely to be in a situation where police don’t respect you.”
· The massacre in Dallas deserved all the attention and outrage it generated. But angry black radicals aren’t the only ones who murder cops for “political” reasons. While the atrocity in Dallas won’t soon be forgotten (nor should it be), I wish the same could be said for the murders of officers in Pittsburgh, Las Vegas and West Memphis, Arkansas.
· This didn’t help, Rupert.
Update: Dallas police chief: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country.”
