Perspectives

A troubled man, a troubled act must not taint a call for reform

By FinalCall.com News | Last updated: Dec 29, 2014 - 9:46:59 AM

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Emerald Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, center left, visits a makeshift memorial, Dec. 22, near the site where New York Police Department officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were killed in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo: AP/Wide World photos
The killing of police officers in New York has raised tension in the country to levels even higher than protests after the deaths of Black males in encounters with police and the failure of grand juries in New York and Ferguson, Mo., to bring back indictments.

The unjust killings of anyone are to be condemned and the killings of true public servants who risk their lives to secure others are even more reprehensible.

The Holy Qur’an, the book of scripture of the Muslims, speaks of those who save a single life as those who have in principle saved all lives. It is a beautiful principle and speaks to the value of all life and all human existence.

At such a moment as this, with the mayor of New York and activists calling for police reform, urging calm and control, there must be great caution used lest an already heated cauldron boil over and blood flow freely in the streets.

The reality is there is a need for justice. Anyone who takes a life unjustly should face the consequences of his or her actions and the violation of the law of God and the law of man.

No one should be above the law and no life should be considered more valuable than another.

Public servants should have the support of the public that is served and the public should have confidence in those who vow to serve and protect and who hold life and death in their hands based on the decisions they make.

The heinous killings of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, however, cannot be laid at the feet of a movement that has been largely peaceful and a movement that has simply asked that Black lives be respected and that laws be enforced equally.

There has been no widespread or mass call for the hurting or killing of police officers at protests across the country.

Even police authorities describe Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the alleged shooter, as someone with a personal history of despair. Media reports have described him as a disturbed young man who was estranged from his mother and family. According to media reports, his own mother feared him.

So the portrait being drawn, if correct, is of a deranged man who commits a deranged act. He threatens to shoot himself in the head in an encounter with an estranged girlfriend in Maryland, who talks him out of the suicide, New York police officials said Dec. 22 in a televised press conference. But, they add, the troubled man shoots the woman who stops him from killing himself in the stomach.

None of this activity and none of these actions tie him to a national protest movement born of the unjust taking of Black lives and the failure of the government to act to bring justice. There is no direct link and no direct connection. Therefore protestors who are exercising their constitutional right to express dissatisfaction must not be held accountable for someone who has no proven ties to their movement.

It is irresponsible for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York police commissioner William Bratton to in any way try to connect this tragedy with legitimate calls for justice.

“The way to honor those who defend our liberties with their lives—as did my father and grandfather—is not to curtail liberty, but to exercise it fully in pursuit of a just and peaceful society According to Ecclesiastes, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose.’ For me, today, that means a time to seek justice and a time to mourn the dead. And a time to shut the hell up,” wrote Kareem Abdul Jabbar, a man with a history of speaking to social and racial issues and a great basketball player, in a piece published online by Time magazine. He grew up in New York and his father and grandfather were police officers.

“We need to value and celebrate the many officers dedicated to protecting the public and nourishing our justice system. It’s a job most of us don’t have the courage to do. At the same time, however, we need to understand that their deaths are in no way related to the massive protests against systemic abuses of the justice system as symbolized by the recent deaths—also national tragedies—of Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and Michael Brown. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the suicidal killer, wasn’t an impassioned activist expressing political frustration.  He was a troubled man who had shot his girlfriend earlier that same day, he even Instagrammed warnings of his violent intentions. None of this is the behavior of a sane man or rational activist. The protests are no more to blame for his actions than The Catcher in the Rye was for the murder of John Lennon or the movie Taxi Driver for the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.”

“Those who are trying to connect the murders of the officers with the thousands of articulate and peaceful protestors across America are being deliberately misleading in a cynical and selfish effort to turn public sentiment against the protestors. … They hope to misdirect public attention and emotion in order to stop the protests and the progressive changes that have already resulted. Shaming and blaming is a lot easier than addressing legitimate claims,” he wrote.

“Some police unions are especially heinous perpetrators. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s previous public support of protestors has created friction with these unions. The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association responded with a petition asking that the mayor not attend the funerals of officers killed in the line of duty. Following the murders of Ramos and Liu, an account appearing to represent the Sergeants Benevolent Association tweeted: ‘The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio.’ Former New York governor George Pataki tweeted: ‘Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder and #mayordeblasio. #NYPD.’ ”

“Such outrage by police unions and politicians implies that there is no problem, which is the erroneous perception that the protestors are trying to change,” Mr. Jabbar continued. “Police are not under attack, institutionalized racism is.”

The real enemy of all of us is injustice and the battle must be waged to bring a full and complete freedom and justice to everyone. Avoiding the truth and telling lies will not lead us to resolve problems. They only drive us closer to the brink of a pit of fire and into the depths of hell.