After the shooting in Dallas, Texas last week, David French tweeted, "One thing I know -- there are black and white cops in Dallas willing to die for each other tonight." Over the past several years, racial tensions have been reaching an all-time high. This is especially notable when the police are involved. We hear more and more about how a policeman killed someone and how someone retaliated against other policemen not involved with the other ones. Micah Xavier Johnson did just that. He took the lives of five officers as well as wounding several others.
He claimed that he committed this atrocity due to the recent police-involved shootings, and that he wanted to kill white people. He is referring the shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and of Philando Castile, a concealed carry permit holder in Minnesota. Both deaths are very troubling, but what did they have to do with the officers in Dallas? Nothing but the uniform they wore.
Johnson, an army veteran, took a position on high ground and set up his sniping equipment. He then took aim at police officers who were present at a peaceful protest held by the Next Generation Action Network. Just before 9 p.m., the first shot rang out. The protest was no longer peaceful. People scrambled for cover, cell phones came out to record everything and police officers rushed towards the gunfire to try and stop it. When an officer rounded the corner near him, Johnson ambushed the officer and shot him at point-blank range. Another officer was injured in the following shootout. It finally came to an end, when for the first time, police used a robot to detonate a bomb, killing Johnson.
The shooter's goal was to take out white people. What he didn't know is that his bullets also struck civilians. One of the civilians that was injured was Shetamia Taylor, a black mother of four who was attending the protest. She was not his target, but got shot in the leg anyway.
In his time planning and executing his horrid plot, Micah Xavier Johnson did not see white, black or blue. All he saw was red. Fortunately, he was stopped before he could do anymore harm. Unfortunately, like many other people who commit such crimes, he let rage consume him. His anger is the reason five officers of the law are dead. They had nothing to do with his anger except for the color of their skin and the clothes that they wore. Johnson is not the only one. People in several other states have continued to murder or assault police officers simply for being police officers. People are harming each other because they have become blind with rage.
Violence and hatred is not only blinding towards the perpetrators' view of others, but they also cannot realize how it has stopped them from seeing themselves. Johnson believed cops intentionally targeted innocent blacks. He decided that these cops, hundreds of miles away from the aforementioned shootings, were just as guilty for being cops. Like what he believed police officers have done, he targeted other people simply due to an insignificant physical aspect. He had become too blind with hatred to realize he had become the exact thing he hated.
I am sad, angered and exhausted by these recent events. Each time tragedies like this happen, we only answer it with more anger and rage, not with reason and love. We cannot keep responding to these events with such emotions. They only breed division and hate. They will never heal these wounds.
Thankfully, during the shooting, another blinding emotion came to light: love. During the shooting, protesters surrounded a baby stroller to protect it from the gunfire. Officers stayed behind to escort civilians to safety. People amassed outside the hospital were the wounded were being treated in a show of support. The Dallas Omni lit up in blue. Makeshift memorials popped up in remembrance of the fallen.
David French was right. These officers did not care for their skin color when they were in danger, and I bet they don't care about it outside of danger. Why can we not just love and respect each other regardless of our physical qualities? Why do we look at a person's race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. for a reason for actions? Because we let ourselves be blinded by rage. We let that one emotion dictate our actions. The only way to fight back against rage is with love and reason. That is a battle we must win within ourselves.
