Feeling Loss, Pain And Seeing The World As Black Or Blue

By Rhodesia Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Aug 5, 2016 - 12:31:01 PM

Officials and family members including Vice President Joe Biden, front second right, Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr., front right, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch pray during a memorial service for three law enforcement officers at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, La., July 28. The gunman’s bullets that killed the officers in Baton Rouge also targeted the country and “touched the soul of an entire nation,” Vice President Joe Biden said at the memorial service for the fallen officers. Photo: AP Wide World Photos

BATON ROUGE, La.— Thousands gathered at Healing Place Church to pay homage to three law enforcement officers whose lives were taken in what officials called an ambush in the state capital. The memorial came weeks after the shooting death of Alton Sterling by two Baton Rouge police officers in early July.

Some of the nation’s top government officials spoke earnestly about the slain officers and often quoted scripture during an emotional July 28 memorial that celebrated the lives of officers Montrell Jackson, 32, Matthew Gerald, 41, and Deputy Brad Garafola, 45, along with three wounded officers, Deputy Bruce Simmons, Ofc. Chad Montgomery, and Deputy Nicholas Tullier, who remains in critical condition.

Vice President Joe Biden received a standing ovation after delivering a straight from the heart speech, encouraging work to close the distance between police and residents in the neighborhoods officers patrol.

“In order to heal,” Vice President Biden said, “you have to know and understand who you are dealing with. You have to take the time to get to know one another.” Police officers have to understand the anxiety a mother feels when her Black child leaves out of the house, he said. The vice president was the only speaker to mention Alton Sterling, saying one fatal incident may not have anything to do with the other and alleged gunman Gavin Long was looking for “an excuse to kill.”

Alton Sterling

‘I haven’t heard anything about the investigation since July 16, the day I met with the FBI and the Justice Dept. The communication stopped once the police shooting happened.’
–Sandra Sterling, mother of Alton Sterling

Other speakers included Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who promised the Justice Dept. would stand with the city of Baton Rouge even after “the lights have faded.” Gov. John Bel Edwards, East Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden, Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie, Jr., East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid J. Gautreaux, and State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson also spoke.

Though many speakers called for solidarity and unity in Baton Rouge, some feel a clear line has been drawn and only two realities exist—Black or Blue.

Sandra Sterling expressed sadness at the deaths of the officers, but doesn’t want their deaths to distract from getting justice for the nephew she raised like a son. “I haven’t heard anything about the investigation since July 16, the day I met with the FBI and the Justice Dept. The communication stopped once the police shooting happened,” she noted.

Ms. Sterling added that she asked Gov. Edwards to stop connecting the Sterling shooting to the police shootings because it creates an unnecessary divide between Sterling supporters and law enforcement. She met with the father of the slain Black officer, Montrell Jackson, and described the encounter. “We prayed together and it felt good because we both truly understand what it feels like to lose someone so tragically and unjustly,” Ms. Sterling said. She also feels it’s a waste of taxpayer’s money to keep investigating a dead man, referring to alleged gunman Long. She wants a thorough investigation of the cops involved in her nephew’s videotaped shooting death. She pointed out that a young White boy was killed in Marksville, La., last November by two Black officers and Col. Edmondson, head of state police, wasted no time arresting those officers in 72 hours.

“We just want the same justice for Alton,” she said.

The Sterling family and some local organizing groups are becoming disheartened by a double standard seen in the treatment of the Sterling death and the deaths of the officers.

“I don’t condone the killing of police officers,” said community activist Miranda Jordan. “However, my mother was given 20 years for killing someone in self-defense. How is it that she can get 20 years and a police officer who kills in the name of self-defense gets a paid vacation?” asked the 24-yearold. Police officers have laws that protect them even in wrongdoing, she said.

Hundreds were arrested for obstructing a highway while peacefully protesting Mr. Sterling’s July 5 death in an encounter with two city officers, Ms. Jordan noted. The same highway was used by officials for one of the officer’s funeral procession and brought traffic to a standstill, she said.

Majorie R. Esman, executive director of the local ACLU, plans to move forward with a federal lawsuit against Baton Rouge police for wrongly arresting protestors. “It doesn’t matter the D.A. has dropped the charges of most of the protestors. They shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place,” she said. “Essentially, we are asking for a temporary restraining order and then a permanent injunction to make sure that people who are exercising their constitutional right to engage in peaceful protests are protected by police—which they have a right to be and not persecuted,” she continued. A hearing in connection with the lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 4.

Arthur Reed of Stop the Violence, Inc., and members of the group set up protests in front of Mayor Kip Holden’s home, demanding that he resign. They accuse the mayor of being derelict in his duty to Black residents of Baton Rouge and to the Sterling family. The mayor, however, has been heavily involved in events connected to the deaths of the police officers.

Reginald Pitcher of the Louisiana SCLC chapter plans to continue to promote a “selective buying campaign” despite threats from the SCLC national president. Mr. Pitcher said he got a call from national media outlets seeking a statement about a SCLC letter declaring his indefinite suspension. “I didn’t receive a copy of the letter and still haven’t. So until I receive an official letter, or have a man to man conversation with him, I’m still president of the Louisiana chapter of the SCLC,” he stated firmly. He plans to stand with Black people whether he has the title of president or not. His goal, along with others, is to strategically boycott businesses, such as Target and Wal-Mart.

“There’s a divide and the media plays a large part in it by mainly showing angry Black folks protesting. … Here you have a guy that was killed by police and they did everything they could to not shine a light on him being a family man and a provider for his children, instead they put a spotlight on his past,” Michael A.V. Mitchell, a community leader and protest organizer, said.

Student Minister Abdul Rashid Muhammad of the Nation of Islam mosque in Baton Rouge is related to Mr. Sterling and a family spokesperson. His work involves the Baton Rouge Coalition for Justice or Else!, which includes support from SCLC chapter President Pitcher, the NAACP and young people. The coalition meets Wednesday nights and the economic boycott is an important part of their efforts.

“We want to make sure the focus stays on getting justice for Mr. Sterling and his family,” Mr. Muhammad said. “They already rendered justice by killing the brother who murdered the police officers, but the officers who murdered Alton Sterling is on paid leave.”

Many Sterling supporters agree violence for violence may not be the answer, but wonder how change can come if supporters of Blue Lives Matter can’t empathize with pain felt by millions of Blacks every time a Black life is lost at the hands of law enforcement?

On the other side, many Whites feel Blacks lack empathy for police officers who have families of their own. Whites also argue police officers are here to protect and serve, but their lives have been put on the line for people viewed as criminals.

It was a somber scene at a makeshift memorial set-up in front of B-Quik gas station where the officers were killed. West Baton Rouge Coroner’s office Chaplin Rev. Franklin Collins III prayed with friends and families of the officers as a representative from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Dept. walked around shaking hands and thanking people for stopping by to pay their respects.

Diane Smith was saddened by the deaths of the officers. “There’s no reason people should be afraid of police, if they respect them for who they are. They represent authority. They are here to protect us and not here to harm anyone,” she said.

“It was a cowardly act that was done on men who was trying to protect this city,” said Rev. Collins. “It’s a senseless act to take innocent lives whether it’s police or not. Yes, it’s a tragedy that our Black men are getting killed more and more and I think justice needs to be done. However, we need to do what officers are telling us to do, even though sometimes that’s the case.”

Some Whites feel it is a Black responsibility to exhibit behavior that will prevent police-involved deaths and not what officers need to do to refrain from killing Blacks, observed a Black female police officer. If there was any sympathy in White hearts toward Mr. Sterling, it has been overshadowed by the deaths of those officers, she noted.

The Final Call