Shot by a black Charlotte police officer Sept. 20, the death of 43-year-old African American Lamont Scott sparked riots for two days in Charolotte. Charlotte-Mecklenburg black Police Chief Kerr Putney refused to release a police video that shows Scott refusing on police commands to drop his gun before shot by police. While Putney confirmed that the video doesn’t necessarily show Scott point his gun at officers, it does show he refused officers’ demands to drop the gun. Eyewitnesses reporting on social networks insist Scott had no weapon, only a book, prompting professional anarchists to exploit the Charlotte police incident to advance activist’s agendas, including the narrative that Scott’s killing was more evidence of white-police on black-citizen racism. Over the past two years, a spate of high-profile police killings promoted the false narrative of racist police departments.
Starting in recent years with 16-year-old Trayvon Martin’s Feb. 26, 2012 killing by neighborhood watch-guy George Zimmerman, next to 29-year-old Eric Garner’s July 17, 2014 death in Staten Island from an apparent police chokehold, then 18-year-old Michael Brown’s Aug. 9. 2014 shooting by white Henderson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson, then 25-year-old Freddie’s Gray’s April 19, 2015 death in Baltimore police transport, ultimately leading to Scott’s Sept. 20 death. While there are differences between the incidents of officer-involved shootings, the 24/7 media coverage hypes white police racism against black civilians. Networks like CNN parade panels of experts concluding that the U.S. has a broken criminal justice system. When President Barack Obama spoke out about Trayvon Martin in 2013, he reinforced the media narrative of white racism.
While over 3,000 people have been shot in Chicago this year, Obama and other high-profile civil rights leaders only comment about high-profile news stories. Obama’s comments on Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garners, Freddie Gray, and the July 5, 2016 death of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge, La. police prompted more comments about unequal treatment of blacks in the criminal justice system. Obama knows, better than most, that most police killing of African Americans aren’t due to racism, or, as Barack likes to say, a broken criminal justice system. With over 750,000 police officers in the U.S. patrolling urban, suburban and rural areas of the U.S. with a population of over 300 million, officer-involved-shootings are bound to happen. Blaming the problem of policing on racism completely ignores the many other factors involved in officer-involved-shootings.
As long as the 24/7 media or politicians continue to hype officer-involved-shootings as racism, the public’s going to buy the false narrative. Whatever problems exist in U.S. law enforcement, racism isn’t high on the list. Most law enforcement experts see shootings as either a last resort to protect officers or bad policing, not following appropriate arrest-and-restraint protocols. When Obama or civil rights leaders point to racism, it gives license to anarchists and other rabble-rousers to riot. Professional anarchists aren’t concerned about the facts, only exploiting incidents to advance political agendas. What the media and politicians don’t get is that hyping officer-involved-shootings as racism promotes violence by mentally disturbed misanthropes looking for any excuse for violence. Two days after Alton Sterling’s death, five Dallas police officers were massacred July 7 by a deranged sniper.
Once the Dallas police fell victim to racially-motivated violence, Cable News broadcasts and politicians stopped hyping Sterling’s death as racism. Charlotte’s incident shows that anarchist groups don’t need much excuse to riot or loot. No one on the streets hurling bottles and rocks at police care whether Scott was killed by a white or black police or, for that matter, whether he was wielding a gun or not. Advocacy groups like Black Lives Matter push the narrative that African Americans have become target practice by white police departments. Responsible news networks and politicians need to get the word out that the vast majority of officer-involved-shooting don’t involve racism but split-second, life-or-death decisions made by police in high crime areas. Most, if not all officers, know that racism, prejudice or bigotry is never an excuse for officer-involved-shootings.
Law enforcement departments around the country have a duty to maintain public order. If peaceful protests turn violent, law enforcement agencies must enforce the first duty to maintain law-and-order, not pander to anarchist groups hell-bent on making political statements. Charlotte’s riots and looting show how anarchists look for any excuse to whip crowds into a violent frenzy, regardless of the justification. Professional athletes, like 28-year-old NFL 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, jumping on the Black Lives Matters bandwagon, sitting or kneeling during the National Anthem, need to get more facts about officer-involved-shootings. Blaming police shooting on racism makes good headlines but doesn’t deal with the dangers of inner-city policing. No one’s more guilty of promoting anarchy and violence than the media and politicians hyping unfortunate officer-involved-shootings as racism.
