The only thing certain in the current struggle between police and protesters seems to be that each side will seize on anything to drive home its point.
Protesters began using the statement “Hands up, don’t shoot!” to dramatize what they felt was the unjustified shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, at the hands of a police officer. Witnesses, however, differ over whether Brown actually had his hands up or whether he uttered those words. Still, the gesture and statement have become symbols for what some consider unwarranted police violence.
On the other hand, officials with the police union in New York City have put some of the blame for the tragic killing of two police officers over the weekend on Mayor Bill de Blasio, for his support of the protesters.
As the rhetoric has ratcheted up, a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, allegedly edited footage of a protest to make it seem as if people were chanting “kill a cop.” Police officers, meanwhile, literally turned their backs on the New York mayor as he entered the hospital where the stricken officers were taken.
The nation could use a strong dose of civil dialogue. That it seems so difficult to find is evidence of what happens when much of the political dialogue on radio and television consists of name-calling and innuendo. When life and death are concerned, why should we expect opposing parties suddenly to exhibit trust in each other or in the institutions necessary to keep the peace?
Certainly, police officers are not above the law. In both the Brown case and the death of Eric Garner on Staten Island, grand juries determined the officers acted properly. These were not satisfying results for many, but uncivil rhetoric and looting are not the answer.
Few of the protesters seem willing to acknowledge the dangers police officers face each day as they try to keep the peace in troubled neighborhoods. And police often seem unwilling to discuss tactics that have turned some departments into quasi-military organizations. Until each side begins to reach out to the other, little will change.
Certainly, it can be argued that escalating tensions may incite some who wish to react violently, and there is evidence to suggest the man who allegedly killed the two officers before killing himself, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, was one such person.
President Barack Obama has called for a dialogue on race and law enforcement. He called for the same thing more than a year ago after the death of Trayvon Martin, and yet it seems a civil discussion has never gotten started.
Meantime, police departments nationwide have begun to be on the lookout for copycat criminals who may target officers. The violence must stop.
Fifty years after the civil rights movement brought so many issues of blatant discrimination into view, so much progress has been made; yet much of the nation is deeply divided. Real progress won’t happen until cooler heads prevail, and that requires real leadership on all sides.