I could not have said this any better myself. Thank you Becky. The killing of the two NYC policemen by a deranged, violent man is horrific. It’s horrific any time someone deliberately and violently takes the life of someone else. It’s so sad that any police officer lives are shot down because they showed up to work. The cop killer apparently wrote on social media that it was a revenge killing for Eric Gardner. I don’t watch TV but my guess is that this has been repeated and somehow conflated with the issues of systemic racial profiling, killing, and injustices that have been the focus of peaceful protest all over the country. This cop killer does not represent the masses of peaceful people who demand change, myself being one. Being a police officer at a time when the power invested in them “to remove the threat” is challenged must be frightening and confusing. It’s outrageous for an officer to be killed for being an officer just as it is for a black person to be killed for being black. Yes, for being black. Violence begets violence. I hope we all can mourn lost lives but resist using homicidal/suicidal individuals who kill cops to justify the killing of people by fearful officers who kill when they perceive their lives are threatened when confronting an unarmed suspected black person to have committed a lesser crime. Eric Gardner was strangled to death by a police officer for suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes and a grand jury said that was somehow okay. It’s not okay! There has to be education and understanding of ourselves as a racist society. If we understand and acknowledge our own fears and racism and the systemic racism of criminal justice system then cultivate compassion and forgiveness for ourselves for active, ignorant or silent participation, we contribute to lifting the nation up in peace and love.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:07:32 +0000
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