The line between group accountability and personal responsibility is not as clear as many want to see it. After all, many want to ban guns or make them harder to obtain when a crazed individual grossly misuses the weapon. Many want to blame all Muslims when someone commits an act of terrorism in the name of Islam. Likewise, when Micah Johnson murdered five police officers in Dallas this week, many have wanted to put the blame on the BLM movement itself.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza responded to the shooting on MSNBC’s show hosted by Chris Hayes.
“Black Lives Matter has never, ever called for the murder of police officers,” Ms. Garza told Hayes. “What we have said over and over again is that it is time in this country for policing to be accountable, transparent and responsible. That’s not rhetoric.”
She continued, “That is what communities in the United States want to see from the people who protect and serve them. And so quite frankly, we can at the same time as we grieve the loss of life of several officers who were killed last night, we can also push to demand that there be accountable, responsive, transparent policing that has oversight from communities and that is accountable to the communities they are supposed to protect and serve.”
“We are not anti-police,” she declared. “We are anti-our people being murdered in the streets. What happened to Alton Sterling, what happened to Philando, what happens to so many black people in our communities is absolutely unacceptable, and I think that’s something that we can all agree on.”
“Black Lives Matter is not just concerned with what happens in policing,” she said. “The disregard, the disrespect and the lack of dignity for black life transcends through the fabric of our society.”
“If I’m clear about anything today that I may not have been clear about when we started… is that we are really in for an uphill battle,” she continued. “This country in particular is having a very, very difficult time with addressing the root causes of the problems that we face and that, until we actually get to that point, unfortunately I do believe we’re gonna have a lot more chaos and confusion.”
I see commonality between this massacre, the one in San Bernardino and the one in Orlando and I think these have more in common with mass shootings than with politics or international terrorism.
The New York Times reports that “new details emerged about Mr. Johnson’s life.”
They write, “They revealed a young man who had returned in disgrace from his stint abroad in the Army Reserve, but then continued a training regimen of his own devising, conducting military-style exercises in his backyard and reportedly joining a gym that offered martial arts and weapons classes.”
While Mr. Johnson showed “an affinity for radical black-power organizations,” given his profile, it seems more likely that he was a troubled man seeking to understand a complex world than someone necessarily influenced by these groups to commit atrocities.
At some point we have to understand that there are troubled individuals who will be angry at the world and are looking for a way to vent that anger. None of that should discredit the mission or tactics of BLM.
There are serious problems that have occurred in this country. And BLM is rightly bringing the nation’s attention to them. Is the message that policing has to be “accountable, transparent and responsible” the wrong message to send?
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Jesse Jackson recently was quoted describing Trumps role in recent events that his “rhetoric has helped to seed these clouds”. Do you believe that is an unfair statement by Mr. Jackson or that it is unfair to hold BLM to the same standard?
Of course BLM should be held accountable. So should the liberal media and our President.
And these are real culprits unlike when the left went after Sarah Palin after Gabby Giffords was gunned down by someone that turned out to be a crazy lunatic and left-winger.
Thank you for your well-substantiated and thoroughly reasoned response. You left out Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and the late Ted Kennedy.
Frankly
A related question for you. Should the Catholic church or any other religious organization that espouses the position that abortion is murder then be “held accountable” for all of the doctors and office staff that have been murdered or maimed in the name of religion. ?
Should BLM be blamed? I know these chants from BLM members certainly didn’t help:
“What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want it? Now!”
“pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon!”
If you google that chant, you’ll notice there is considerable dispute as to who and where it came from.
Here’s the actual footage of BLM protesters doing the chants:
http://www.infowars.com/sick-black-lives-matter-supporters-celebrate-murder-of-dallas-cops/
http://www.infowars.com/sick-black-lives-matter-supporters-celebrate-murder-of-dallas-cops/
Because nothing says “credible source” like citing Alex Jones.
Nothing says credible source like the actual videos of the BLM marchers doing the chants.
BP
I am in complete agreement with you that chants of this type are heinous regardless of who is doing the chanting. However, I would argue against blaming groups or non involved individuals for the indefensible actions of others. As a previous protestor against the Viet Nam war I am well aware that attendance at protests can be an unpredictable and sometimes dangerous pursuit. There were entirely peaceful protests that I attended from beginning to end. There were other protests that were clearly turning violent that I left immediately. Being a participant in a group protest does not in and of itself making one an agitator or violent.
Being a member of a Black Lives Matter group does not make you guilty of complicity in shooting police officers. Being a Muslim does not make you complicit in terrorist attacks. Being the Pope does not make you responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller any more than President Obama is responsible for the deaths of the Dallas Police officers.
It makes me laugh hearing this now coming from the left that the actions of a few don’t represent the entire group. There were Democrat members of Congress making this same statement just a few days ago in regards to BLM. These were the same Democrats who tried to portray the Tea Party as being racist by picking out one sign here or there in a crowd of 100,000. These same Democrats then accused them of racist remarks and spitting on them as they walked across the Capital even though there’s no video or audio of that happening.
That said Tia, I agree with you that the bad actions of a few don’t necessarily represent the whole movement. But it works both ways, did you speak up when the Tea Party was being falsely accused?
Tia, hurry up and read this post because my comment will self destruct in 5 seconds.
BP
“It makes me laugh hearing this now coming from the left that the actions of a few don’t represent the entire group.”
What makes me laugh is you do not seem to be able to differentiate a single posters point of view from that of “the left”, whatever you consider that to be.
“ But it works both ways, did you speak up when the Tea Party was being falsely accused?”
Of course it works both ways. But just like you, I do not comment on every single event or accusation.
“But just like you, I do not comment on every single event or accusation”. Tia I think you are wrong. BP does comment on every single post.
Quielo? Thanks for that. And to think I happen to like you…..
It was neither positive nor negative regarding your views. Simply a comment on your assiduousness.