Yvonne Sam: Contributor
The Home Grown Culprit— The Media (Guilty of Inciting the Nation against Blacks)
Stoking the Racial Pyre
The United States from time immemorial has been referred to as the great melting pot, a country that nevertheless has struggled with race relations and still continues to so do. From its founding, the United States Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 professed that all men are created equal. Thus far the term “equal” seemingly exists only on paper, but is being played out differently in real life. Clearly, it has become blatantly apparent to even the most myopic, that hypocrisy exists between what America says and what she actually does. The truth was never apparent, as we do not usually oppress those we see as being fully human. At every turn the people of color suffered being relegated to the status of chattel, derided as savages, lynched, segregated, rioted against, degraded, belittled, enslaved and not to mention being targeted for far too long.
Permit me to raise (no pun intended) a point of grave if not deadly concern regarding the current racial climate in America. Underpinning the recent spate of violence against law officers following the deaths of Alton Sterling in Texas and Philandro Castile in Minnesota, is the deafening plea and appeal of Blacks and Black Lives Matter for removal of the inequitable distribution of punishment on Blacks. What is being complained of and protested against, is the lingering presence of a double standard and bias in justice. There is the obvious inequitable distribution of punishment as it pertains to whites and blacks. That’s the crux of the matter plain and simple. It requires neither SWEAT OR LOSS OF BREATH nor RUNNING AND GUNNING to diagnose and propose.
The real killer however, lies in the manner of reporting done by the media. In other words when things take place how does the media cover it? The media plays an extremely powerful role in how news is transmitted, and in addition shapes how America perceives the world around them and what they consider to be of extreme importance, and as such their actions. Currently, the media is doing an extremely good job in inciting the citizenry into frenzy, fear and paranoia. making the cops more aggressive towards Blacks, causing outcries from community groups, police unions all of which may ultimately lead to an imminent race war. The issue of how the media covers things should be fully addressed and dealt with condignly, and not swept under the rug or shifted into oblivion by other less important issues. The issue must be confronted.
Following the recent actions of Micah Johnson the Dallas sniper, note the rapidity of the media in making their key statement “Blacks have declared war on cops”, “Black Lives Matter have declared war on cops”. One wonders the nature of their sources in arriving at such a dastardly conclusion. What are their inclusion criteria to talk about war on cops?
To bear out my point(s) in question permit me to present a few deadly encounters between white citizens and law enforcement officers all of which flew within the radar of the media but failed to gain the recognition or nomenclature “War on Cops”. This narrative is reserved solely for Blacks, and they remain in the line of fire as the media continuously stokes the pyre.
The Name Game—Copping Out
April 5, 2014
In Bunkerville, Nevada, Cliven Bundy, a white cattle rancher, had an armed standoff with federal and state law enforcement over grazing rights. Truckloads of white militia men and women armed with AR15s and AK 47s , some drawn at the officers arrived in support of the standoff. There were no casualties. This was not seen as a War on Cops, instead it was reported as an exercising of their 2nd Amendment Right. .
June 6, 2014
Dennis Marx, a former TSA employee and member of the 100,000-plus “sovereign citizen” movement, members of which are classed by the FBI as domestic terrorists, stormed a Georgia county courthouse and took hostages. Among his stockpile of weaponry, were gas grenades, smoke grenades, pepper spray grenades, which Marx tossed into the courthouse- something he could do more easily with his gas mask strapped on
His silver Nissan SUV was used as a weapon of sorts. He had his own water supply and flexible handcuffs. After being confronted by law officers, a gunfight of almost three minutes in duration ended with the assailant being killed by a sheriff’s deputy. Shot twice in the leg, the deputy was the only person wounded despite what the sheriff called “a full frontal assault.” Despite this evident planned onslaught against law enforcement officers, again the term “war on cops” eluded the media, instead his behavior was attributed to his mental instability.
June 11, 2014
In Las Vegas, Nevada, Jerad Miller and his wife Amanda gunned down two police officers in a pizzeria, before shooting and killing a civilian in a Walmart store before dying in a gun fight with police. Jared and Amanda were carrying three guns, a Smith & Wesson 9 mm, a Ruger .38-caliber revolver and a Winchester 1300 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a pistol grip when they killed the police officers Lyn Beck and Igor Soldo who were having lunch. After killing the officers and stripping them of their guns and ammunition, on the fallen law officers they left a Swastika, a Revolutionary War-era “ Don’t Tread On Me” flag and a note proclaiming, “ The revolution is beginning “. Of striking note is the fact that Jerad had posted several online videos dressed as the Joker. One of the videos showed him expressing his hatred for President Barack Obama, strong disdain for law enforcement and police officers in general, even warning in one video that they “cannot be trusted”. He denounced the U. S government’s gun control and surveillance measures deeming them oppressive, being especially critical of their treatment of Cliven Bundy during the standoff of April 2014.
May 31, 2014,
Atlanta, Georgia, Black Police Officer Kevin Jordan 43of the Griffin Police Department, and father of seven was in police uniform working as a security for Waffle House Restaurant . Three drunken white customers became unruly and started making racial comments. The restaurant employees requested Jordan to remove the unruly trio, and he began escorting them to the parking lot. The female identified as Chantell Mixon, 28 began fighting Jordan as he arrested her, and this was when Michael Dewayne Bowman, 30 a military veteran intervened shooting Jordan several times in the back at close range, as he handcuffed Mixon on the ground. Somehow, one of the bullets got past Jordan’s bullet-proof vest.
Was this not a war on cops or is the term only applicable or available for use when it concerns Blacks. It is my fervent hope that the picture regarding the presence of double standards, compounded by the egregious behavior of the media is becoming painfully apparent.
September 12, 2014,
Convicted cop killer Matthew Eric Frein, 31 described by the police as a self-taught survivalist with a known grudge against law enforcement personnel was charged with the ambush killing of Corporal Bryan Dickson and critical wounding of Trooper Alex T. Douglass during a shift change outside the Pennsylvania State Barracks using a .308- caliber rifle. Following the shooting Frein led law enforcement authorities on a police manhunt that saw an increased from 200 officers to almost 1,000 when he was captured on October 30, 2014. Law enforcement officers included local police, state police forces from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It also included several police vehicles; at least four helicopters with thermal imaging equipment, armored Bear Cats, and a 13,000 pound $245,000 Ring Power armored siege vehicle nicknamed The Rook. Frein was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. Neither the manhunt nor consequent capture though publicized merited notification as being a war on cops. Seemingly, Once White always Right. A review of the computer hard drive used by Frein revealed that the attack had been planned for years.
January 31, 2013
District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot and killed by Eric Williams, just one block shy of the courthouse, in Kaufman County, Texas as he was arriving for work. Witnesses claim that Williams shot and killed Kasses and then stood over him and fired more shots into his body. Williams had been found guilty of stealing county computer equipment and was successfully prosecuted by Hasse and the District Attorney, in addition to losing his job as a Justice of the Peace. His wife Kim Williams pled guilty being the getaway driver during the murder of District Attorney Hasse. She testified against Williams and as part of the deal was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to 40 years in State prison.
Revenge was still on William’s mind as two months later on March 30, 2013 he gunned down District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia inside their home in what authorities termed a “ lead explosion”.
June 13, 2015
From a parked armored van with what appeared to be a semiautomatic weapon, James Boulware shot at the Dallas Police Department Headquarters in the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. He then led the police in a chase to the town of Hutchins 10 miles south of Dallas, where he remained in the van in a standoff with police. The standoff concluded when a round was fired by a police sniper using a .50 caliber rifle, disabling the engine block, as well as additional rounds into the vehicle to disable the driver. After sending in robots to confirm the shooting and attempt to make entry into the vehicle, water charges were used to breach the windshield. Police then verified that the suspect now dead was the only person in the vehicle. Outside of the police headquarters police found four bags containing pipe bombs. The father of the assassin said that he was mentally disturbed, and that he was angry and hated cops.
December 24, 2012 In Webster, New York, William Spengler 62, a white individual opened fire killing two volunteer firefighters and wounding two others, after they responded to a house fire that he had deliberately set. In the ensuing gunfight the gunman shot and killed himself, leaving a typewritten note describing his intent that reads as follow: “I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best, killing people. Spengler could not legally own guns as he was a convicted felon, but the local authorities As a convicted felon, Spengler could not legally own guns, but there had been recent gun thefts in the county, citing local authorities. In 1981 Spengler was sentenced to 17 years in prison for beating his 92 year old grandmother to death with a hammer. Again the question cries out for a response. Is this not a war on cops? Firefighters, in essence and reality are not law enforcement agents, but nevertheless they are servants of the public and have a certain degree of authority when it comes to certain scenarios. Again there is a double standard but it is not considered a war on cops, or a war on authorities.
December 20, 2014 Two police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos sitting in their patrol car in the Bedford Stuveysant area of Brooklyn were shot a point blank range, by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a black man who had travelled from Baltimore to Brooklyn bent on avenging the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown by killing officers. Brinsley walked up to the patrol car passenger side window assumed a firing stance and discharged several rounds into the heads and upper bodies of the officers, who never drew their weapons . The suspected later committed suicide using the same gun.
July 7, 2016 Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and fired upon a group of police in Dallas Texas, killing five and injuring nine others including two bystanders. The killings occurred at the end of a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest against the recent killings of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge Louisiana and Philandro Castile of Falcon Heights,Minnesota. Johnson an Army Reserve Afghan war veteran was reportedly angry over the killings in recent days of black men by police officers. After the shooting Johnson sought refuge inside a building on the campus of El Centro College. , and was pursued by the police. A standoff followed and Johnson was killed on July 8, by the police using a bomb attached to a remote control bomb disposal robot. It was the first time that U. S law enforcement agents had used a robot to kill a suspect.
July 11, 2016
In Berrien County Michigan Larry Darnell Gordon a white inmate while being moved into the courtroom for an arraignment hearing, grabbed the deputy’s gun and killed two bailiffs and injured a deputy. Following the shooting, Gordon attempted to take hostages in the courtroom area, managed to shoot a woman in the arm before being fatally shot by other bailiffs as he attempted to escape.
The media reported this incident as breaking news, claiming that the courthouse was under attack. It was not considered a war on cops and soon slid into obscurity, especially after the wife of the deceased was quoted as saying that he was not a violent man, but became desperate because he wanted to see his kids.
The media must Stop—There is no war on Cops
As have been shown, the facts are clear—— The acts are not considered a war on cops when carried out by whites. The shooting of the five Dallas officers by the Black sniper remains a totally isolated case of an individual who took matters into his own hands. He is not the spokesman for the Black community as the media would have the public believe. The media continues to stoke the racial pyre with Blacks poised to feel the brunt of the fire. There is no war being waged on cops or law enforcement authorities, and certainly no army with a general or lieutenant being surreptitiously formed. The media is guilty of blatantly irresponsible journalism, propaganda promulgation and the application of a biased double standard, all geared to further incite the hostility of cops against Blacks, who must live and breathe in an atmosphere laden with the miasma of racial hatred.
NOT MUCH TO ASK
All that Blacks ask is for equal application of the law when it comes to apprehending any Black individual who is breaking the law. Do not discriminate by color. We should not fear for or lose our lives each time we encounter a law enforcement representative. On the beat or each time we meet, there should be no cause for alarm that you may discharge your firearm. Let due process take its course, and we have our day in court.
The MEDIA must STOP there is no war on Cops by Blacks.