As I sit here and write this article I sit and reflect on yet another mass shooting in the United States. I could sit here and opine on the wisdom or lack thereof of allowing civilians to purchase and own SKS semi-automatic weapons, but instead I choose to focus on the events leading up to and subjective intent of the shooter that led to the deaths of five law enforcement officers.
Over the last several years we have seen various deeply disturbing videos of white law enforcement shooting black individuals who seemingly did not pose a risk to officers or the public. This turn of events including the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling is deeply disturbing to all those who support a society free of racial discrimination. In order to promote confidence in our institutions and law enforcement is vital that racial discrimination not exist in appearance or in fact.
Minority communities and citizens at large, through seeing seemingly lawless behavior on the part of law enforcement officials have begun to lose confidence in law enforcements officers’ ability to serve the public in a fair and unbiased way. This has led to individuals painting all law enforcement officials with a single brush, rather than accepting the fact that the vast majority of law enforcement officials do follow laws and regulations.
These rotten apples poison the tree. Minority communities feel as if their legal system has abandoned them. This has led radical individuals, such as Micah Xavier Johnson, to feel as if committing heinous attacks such as the one carried out in Dallas, is the answer when it is not. “An eye for an eye makes the world blind” by Mahatma Gandhi perfectly symbolizes this. Killing law enforcement officers does not atone for the misdeeds committed by a small minority of law enforcement officials who disregard the rule of law.
Additionally, committing heinous attacks such as these does not help their own cause. Their concerns are legitimate and deserve to be brought to light and address with the full force of the law, but individuals who commit attacks such as these, cause attention to be drawn away from seemingly lawless law enforcement actions which led to the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling but instead pivot the news coverage to the cruel attacks that they perpetuated.
Thus in the end, they are own spiting themselves. The best way to end racial discrimination is perfectly summarized in Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Actions “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.”
We cannot simply wish away our ugly and painful history of savage racial discrimination. We cannot pretend that the era of racial discrimination is a chapter of our history that lives no longer. We must embrace our past and as a society we must atone for the sins committed in order to build a diverse and multi-cultural society where individuals, regardless of the color of their skin, can achieve their highest aspirations without arbitrary barriers. Violence is not the answer, broad based discussions and a remedial course of action is.
