Hiding behind a peaceful protest for recent white police shootings of 37-year-old Alton Sterling July 6 in Baton Rouge, La. and 32-year-old Philando Castille July 7 in St. Paul, Mn., 25-year-old Micah X. Johnson shot and killed five Dallas police, injuring 14 others. Dallas police used a robot-carrying explosive device early Friday morning to kill Johnson, claiming he showed no interest in surrendering. “The suspect said he was upset with white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,” said Dallas Police Chief David Brown, giving the kill order out of police and public safety. Given all the motives needed, Brown used Johnson’s own words. “The suspect said he was upset with Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings,” dismissing swirling speculation about the shooter’s ties to possible terrorist groups.
Opening fire just before 9 pm Central Standard Time, Micah, a former Army Reserve masonry and carpenter specialist, spending two tours in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, was well prepared with an AR-15-type assault rife, Kevlar vest and plenty of ammo to inflict maximum casualties. While Brown said the attack was coordinated with as many as five snipers, it looks now like Johnson was the lone assassin. Johnson ambushed Dallas police from a multi-story parking garage, the exact spot where police cornered him before blowing him up. “The cops has no idea who was shooting at them,” Jamal Johnson [unrelated] told KTVT-TV in Dallas. “Everyone knew it wasn’t a firework—it was an actual shot,” creating the mayhem leaving protestors fleeing in panic in a hail of gunfire. Before the long night ended, Johnson became the worst single-cop-killing assassin in U.S. history.
Combing through the wreckage, the Congressional Black Caucus called for an urgent resumption of gun control talks, something House speaker Paul Ryan cancelled forcing Democrats into the July 4 recess. “Republicans, what on earth—why are you not giving us a debate on gun violence,” CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) told the press today on Capitol Hill. “We need legislative action now,” demanded Butterfield, knowing the GOP’s Second Amendment advocates won’t acquiesce to pressure from current events. Butterfield linked the Dallas massacre to white-police-on-black killings in the two days before. “People cannot use Black Lives Matter as a scapegoat. Those young kids came together to protest,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.). “You can’t blame them for these incidents happening. And as much as people would like to call them thugs and other things, they do that for their comfort.”
Leading up to the Dallas massacre, the public’s witnessed a string of white-on-black killings starting with the Feb. 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin killing where neighborhood watch-guy George Zimmerman gunned down the 16-year-old. “Trayvon Martin could have been me,” said Obama, fueling black outrage that culminated in yesterday’s Dallas massacre. Before the last nights massacre, Obama expressed himself about the white police killing of Sterling and Castille. “These are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system,” raising concerns about white-on-black police abuse. When you consider the fevers’ pitch whipped up by hosts and pundits on 24/7 cable news broadcasts, it’s no wonder Johnson went over the deep end. Cable networks completely switched gears last night, reserving sympathy for the police.
Obama’s comments throw gasoline on an already volatile situation, where certain elements within the black community are ready to rumble. While no one’s commenting yet about Johnson’s mental health, it’s clear that he was deranged even while pre-meditating the massacre. “America is weeping. They are angry. They are frustrated . And Congress—and when I say Congress, I mean Republicans in Congress—are refusing to address gun violence in America,” Butterfield said. Butterfield acknowledged he was due to meet with Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey to discuss police abuse in the black community. Butterfield and the Congressional Black Caucus need to get their priorities straight. They can’t possibly think there’s any justification for yesterday’s slaughter. Whatever problems exist between communities of color around the country, mass murder is intolerable.
If the CBC wants an honest dialogue about how to fix, as Obama puts it, “disparities in the criminal justice system,” they need to address the issue. Not pressure GOP lawmakers into getting new gun control legislation. If Butterfield wants more background checks or new gun control legislation to stop folks on the FBI’s “no-fly-list,” then he should sit down with GOP leadership. “This has been a long week for our country. It’s been a long month for America. We have seen terrible, terrible, senseless things,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, asking for patience before addressing new gun control legislation. “If we fail to act, this will be a long, hot summer,” said Butterfield, referring to the 1965 Watts Riots. However intended, Butterfield shouldn’t give a green light to would-be rioters to commit violence. Dealing with race and gun control are two separate things.
