As our nation mourns the death of five Dallas Police Officers, many of us think back to 2008 when President Obama was elected on a slogan of “Hope and Change” when many of those who voted for him expected great things of the first black president. They thought this was a chance to bring the black and white populations together in more harmony. Unfortunately, not much changed, and Hope was fading after his first term. He was given a second opportunity in 2012 when his slogan was” Forward” “Change we can believe in” and many actually believed him. Once again he failed to produce what he had promised, and in fact we found America even more divided racially. He recently was quoted on NBC as saying “One of the things that I’ve consistently said as president is that I’m the president of all people. I am very proud and my presidency can help to galvanize and mobilize America on behalf of issues and racial disparity and racial injustice.”
I fail to see how our president has done any galvanizing or mobilizing of America and instead through divisive comments and rhetoric has split Americans further apart racially. Two thirds of Americans had a positive view of race relations just after Obama was elected in 2009. A recent poll by the Pew Research center stated the number of whites who said race relations are generally bad was 45% with Blacks 61% and for Hispanics 58%. I would venture to say that those numbers are going to change for the worse since this terrible incident in Dallas. The fact is that our last two presidents, one a democrat and one a republican, were much more effective in managing race relations during their terms in office then Obama during his tenure.
Obama has been a critic of our police going back to the Trayvon Martin case with his comment “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon”. There was Ferguson, Missouri with Michael Brown where Obama said “There’s no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.” As I remember, there was nothing peaceful about the demonstrations or the protesters’ actions in Ferguson.
Ferguson is where the “Black Lives Matter” group was born, and it has grown to a nationwide protest organization against our police. How is it right that this group is permitted to chant “Pigs in a blanket fry them like bacon” and get praised for their activism by our President? I would have to say that our president has used every divisive measure at his disposal to drive an even bigger wedge between black and white in this country.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark appearing on the Sean Hannity show responding that the President must be “hallucinating” when he touted his record of solving issues of racial inequality and argued Obama contributed a “false narrative” of racism by our police against African Americans. Sheriff Clark stated “Race relations have always been tenuous in America. Slavery and discrimination have left an ugly scar on the soul of America. But that scar has been healing over the years. President Obama came along with sandpaper, rubbed it raw, and then poured salt in it to inflame it for political gain. He doesn’t believe that and neither does anybody else.”
With this “Black Lives Matter Protest” in Dallas and the shooting of twelve police officers with five killed, our law enforcement officers enter another dangerous era that they must contend with. Here we had the Dallas police out in the open protecting the 1st amendment rights of the Black Lives Matter demonstrators, and we have one of the worst shooting engagements ever to happen in this country by what we currently know was a single shooter. This was not just some lone gunman but someone who was trained in tactical maneuvers and marksmanship, someone who we would not expect to be a perpetrator of this type of criminal activity.
Micah Johnson was an army veteran and a loner who spoke with a hostage negotiator and told him in the words of Dallas Police Chief David Brown “The suspect said that he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. And he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers, and that he was not affiliated with any groups and that he did this alone.”
What did Obama say regarding the shootings? The U.S. is “not divided as some have suggested” in the wake of these fatal shootings. He said “it was just not true” that America was returning “to the situation in the 60’s.” I would say to these comments made by President Obama show us the he has lost all sense of reality, and once again is being disingenuous with the American people by not acknowledging that we have a problem in this country that is racially charged and seems to be exploding all over the place. He did however not miss this chance to once again call for gun control along with the rest of the liberal gun grabbers.
The Police officers in Dallas ran towards the gun fire and made themselves targets to protect the protesters exercising their 1st amendment rights as they were trained to do, but how long will they continue to do this if they know they are sitting ducks for aggressive terrorist tactics like the ones used in this latest shooting. It’s time we all gave support to our local police and encouraged them with appreciation for their efforts in keeping us all safe. These officers put their lives on the line each and every day and to be sure there is not enough money in the world to pay them to be targets for aggressive shooters, yet they are out there for us. Next time you have an opportunity thank a police officer for serving their community and keeping us all safe.
“If you want to solve a problem you must first realize that there is a problem” (Nugie)
