This week has seen another open season on cops. The shootings of black suspects Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana have sparked protests by Black Lives Matter across the nation.
And then Black Lives Matter held a protest in Dallas on July 7, which was interestingly planned and organized by a white man. And things were actually peaceful until the shooting started. Five police officers were killed, while seven other police officers and two civilians were wounded. The police soon closed in on the perpetrators. One of them, Micah Xavier Johnson, was later killed via a robot-delivered bomb after he was cornered in a parking garage and refused to surrender (thus sparking a debate on police tactics). Johnson (a former Army reservist who served in Afghanistan) was motivated by revenge over the shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana and thus wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. Meanwhile, three other suspects were arrested.
Two days later, the Dallas Police Headquarters was put on lockdown due to a suspicious person being seen in the parking lot, as well as an anonymous threat. No suspect or any threat was found, but the Dallas Police Department (as well as other police departments across the nation) have been on alert.
There have been other shootings of police officers in retaliation for the shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. Such shootings occurred in Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia (the latter was a case of a police officer responding to a 911 call, only to be shot by the person who made the call).
Protests have erupted in both Minnesota (where around 100 people were arrested amidst rioting and Molotov cocktails being thrown), and Louisiana (where around another 100 were arrested). And as I previously mentioned, Black Lives Matter have held protests elsewhere in America, including here in Owensboro, Kentucky. I was walking down the street when I saw the protesters headed in my direction (with a police escort). I watched as the protesters turned onto an adjacent street, chanting “no justice, no peace” as they marched.
The shootings in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Dallas have sparked debate not only over race relations and deadly use of force by police officers, but also gun control. The liberals have wasted no time bringing up the matter, just as they did in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando.
Hopefully, cooler heads and common sense will prevail. And in so doing, the healing will begin.
Image: shutterstock_87229753.jpg
