Below is a column by Gary Mienert, re-posted with permission. Gary has been documenting the conditions along the United States southern border with Mexico for a very long time. In this column, Gary talks about the situation facing America’s law enforcement officers since the situation in Ferguson, MO with thug Michael Brown.
Black and Blue America by Gary Mienert
On August 9, 2014 Michael Brown, a black 289 pound 18 year old, was fatally shot by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer after Brown robbed a convenience store. Every American who reads newspapers or watches television knows the Michael Brown drama. During the same year 126 police officers in the United States were killed. Can you name one?
From the outset the evidence was convincing that the officer had every reason to use deadly force to stop this well known thug. Witnesses, both black and white, confirmed that Brown refused to obey every order given to him by the officer up to the end when he attempted to grab the officer’s weapon. Brown is still venerated as a martyr primarily by the black community. How could this happen?
Although numerous state and local agencies were well underway into their investigations, Obama leaped into the fray with the following statement to the press.
“The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time. As Attorney General Holder has indicated, the Department of Justice is investigating the situation along with local officials, and they will continue to direct resources to the case as needed. I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding.”
With his statement and that of Attorney General Holder the media flooded in and the explosion of news coverage began. Literally, before the body had cooled Al Sharpton and his entourage slithered into town appearing to sympathize with the family but injected hatred for his own agenda. It was more than a dollop of irony and coincidence that Sharpton visited the president’s office just prior to his trip to Ferguson. His close relationship with Obama is evidenced by almost 70 such “hug fests” over eight years.
All the pieces were in place: A known thug killed at the hands of a police officer, Obama’s nationwide sympathetic messages, A corrupt Attorney General Holder inserting himself into the game, and Al Shapton stirring the community and interlopers into rioting.
The “Hands up don’t shoot” narrative and “Black lives matters” chant gave birth entirely by “The Ferguson Effect.”
That event in itself was the genesis, the lighting of the fuse for “Black lives Matter” riots which have continued unabated for over two years. This was no accident, it was well orchestrated and it continues without pause until today. Any death of a black person by the lands of law enforcement automatically becomes a cause for a march often leading to riots and deaths of officers.
If any doubts linger regarding Obama’s culpability we need only to look back to February of 2016 when he convened a room full of leftist agitators including “Black Lives Matter” leaders and praised their skills as “much better organizers” than he was. He continued by saying he “was confident they are going to take America to new heights” because of their “degree of focus and seriousness and constructiveness.” Let that sink in while you recall the burned out buildings, the looted stores, the overturned vehicles, the injured innocents and especially the police officers killed or wounded. All were the end result of the very people in the room to whom Obama was praising. Families of fallen officers will forever remember the chants of “Pigs in a blanket, Fry ‘em like bacon” and “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want ‘em? Now”
July 9, 2016 Obama declared “Right now the big concern is the fact that data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents” referring to officer shootings of black men. Ironically Obama’s words were spoken only three hours before Micah Xavier Johnson shot and killed five police officers in Dallas, wounding nine others and two citizens. Johnson was reported as saying he was “angry over police shooting black men.”
Obama falsely claims “African Americans are arrested at twice the rate of whites.” He, of course, conveniently omits the fact that blacks commit murder at almost six times the rate of whites! The recent assault rate on American citizens is 229 per every 100,000. During that time the assault rate on police officers was 9,300 per every 100,000. That’s a rate of 41 times higher than on citizens. It’s obvious with that data police officers aren’t anxious to fire their weapons even when assaulted! The killings by police officers are less than 1% of the assaults on them.
The statistics when police officers kill their assailants is even more startling. The Bureau of Justice Statistics show the rate of black officers who kill their assailants is 32 per every 100,000. The same statistics show the rate of white officers who kill their assailants is 14 per every 100,000, less than half of that of black officers. The statistics come from a Harvard study, The Manhattan Institute and Bureau of Justice Statistics.
It’s of utmost importance how the “Ferguson effect” of “Black lives Matter” affects the police officers. The Pew Research Center just released a poll taken on this very subject. A survey of over 8,000 police officers from across the country was taken. 76% of officers are more hesitant to use force even when it is appropriate. 72% are less likely to stop a suspicious suspect. Over 90% say their colleagues are worrying more about their personal safety than doing their job. .
Chicago, Obama’s home town carrying the title of “The killing field” just received the report from Obama’s Justice Department. “The Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force.” Statistics, however, show that very little of the problem rests with a pattern of force by the police. Black on black killings by any test is the culprit but Obama certainly wouldn’t agree with that. The 2016 Christmas weekend in Chicago equaled 41 shot and 11 killed. A similar slaughter occurred on Martin Luther King Day equaled 39 shot leaving 10 dead.
Thanks to the residue of Obama’s racist policies toward our nations’ police officers and support of “Black Lives Matter” we can expect many to retire or relocate in safer environs. How can we possibly blame them?
