This week, Americans grappled with processing the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile who were shot and killed by police officers. Videos of their deaths soon flooded social media and left many infuriated. The recordings depict Sterling getting shot at close-range by officers as he lay on the ground and Castile laying in the driver's seat of a car with a blood-stained shirt as his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, recalls the events leading up to his death.
Protestors across the country gathered together to show their frustrations with the deaths and mourn for the victims; however, a peaceful march in Dallas turned chaotic on Thursday night as five police officers lost their lives after a sniper opened fire during a Black Lives Matter
(BLM) rally.
Opponents of the BLM movement soon associated the assassinations of the Dallas police officers with the organization; however, statements by Dallas Police Chief, David Brown, gave evidence that the shooter was unaffiliated
with BLM:"The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. He was upset at white people. He wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.
The suspect stated he was not affiliated with groups and he stated that he did this alone. The suspect said other things that are part of this investigation so that we can make sure that everyone associated with this tragic event is brought to justice."
Movements like Black Lives Matter aim to broaden "the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state." Likewise, their claim is to fight "for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. We affirm our contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression."
According to The Washington Post, 512 people have been shot and killed by the police in 2016. A study by The Guardian
showed that young African-American males between the ages of 15 and 34, despite only making up about 2 percent of the population, comprised more than 15 percent of all deaths due to police brutality making them nine times more likely to be killed by police officers than any other demographic. "Paired with official government mortality data, this new finding indicates that about 1 in every 65 deaths of a young African American man in the US is a killing by police." Obama commented on the Dallas attack and addressed the Black Lives Matter movement by stating:“When people say ‘black lives matter,’ it doesn’t mean that blue lives don’t matter,” Obama said, referring to police officers. “But right now, the data shows that black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents. There is a particular burden that is being placed on a group of our fellow citizens.”
Supporters of the BLM movement are not anti-police but rather anti-police brutality. Anti-4-year-olds sitting in the back seat of a car as their father is shot before their eyes. Anti-police officers killing unarmed citizens. Anti-institutionalized racism. Anti-a system where officers get paid leave off after pulling triggers. Anti-buying Burger King for the Charleston shooter and putting a bulletproof vest on him while leaving twelve-year-olds with toy guns to bleed on park floors. Anti-the dehumanization and demonization of black people.
