Who Ya Gonna Blame?

On FOX-News, Rudy Giuliani said it was the president's fault because President Obama told everyone to hate the police:

We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.

On ABC, NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelly blamed Mayor de Blasio:

I think when the mayor made statements about that he had to train his son — who is biracial — to be careful when he's dealing with the police, I think that set off this latest firestorm.

Frankly, my friend Jennifer lives in Baltimore and it's her fault. She should've known Ismaaiyl Brinsley was going to go to New York to kill two cops right after he shot his girlfriend. Not that she knew him or met him or ever had any contact or anything. But she lives in Baltimore so she must be to blame. 

Never mind that someone sold a crazy person the gun, or that both Georgia and Ohio had long rap sheets on the guy and he'd done jail time in both states. Surely they can own some of this.....or not.

Of course, there is that bothersome issue of the truth. The President did not tell anyone to hate the police. This is what President Obama said,

 “There is never an excuse for violence against police, or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting.”              August 14, 2014

“I also appeal to the law enforcement officials in Ferguson and the region to show care and restraint in managing peaceful protests that may occur. Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They’ve got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law. As they do their jobs in the coming days, they need to work with the community, not against the community, to distinguish the handful of people who may use the grand jury’s decision as an excuse for violence — distinguish them from the vast majority who just want their voices heard around legitimate issues in terms of how communities and law enforcement interact.”                                                                                                           November 24, 2114 

The mayor and his family
at the inaugeration

And yes, Mayor de Blasio and his wife did have long talks with their son about being a black teenager in the city. That was not to incite hate or anger; it's to protect the child and prevent him from becoming a statistic. Any parent of a teenager of color, whether that parent is white, black, Asian, Native American, or Purple-Polka-Dots will tell you there comes a moment when you have to have the talk...the one about what to do if you're stopped or, if driving, pulled over for no apparent reason other than you "fit the description." The de Blasios are no different. As the mayor told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, December 7th:

“It’s different for a white child. That’s just the reality in this country… And with Dante, very early on with my son, we said, look, if a police officer stops you, do everything he tells you to do, don’t move suddenly, don’t reach for your cellphone, because we knew, sadly, there’s a greater chance it might be misinterpreted if it was a young man of color."

There are real problems with guys like Rudy Giuliani and Ray Kelly blaming the President and the Mayor. They are not helping calm the masses; they are spewing hate speech. This is not a political opportunity....this is a tragedy, and there are those who will exploit it. If you are looking to blame someone for the death of Officers Liu and Ramos, let's start with Ismaaiyl Brinsley. He got the gun, he headed to New York for a little cop hunting, and he pulled the trigger. Let's not forget he also shot his girlfriend.

The bottom line is anyone who engages in inflammatory rhetoric should be stripped of public office. They are the ones who incite riots. They are the ones who deepen the fissure into a crevasse of unfathomable depth. They forget the shooter was a crazy person, a lone trigger, and a well-known violent criminal. Those things have nothing to do with the president, the mayor, or my friend Jennifer who happens to live in Baltimore. And blaming Jennifer for the execution of two NYPD cops sitting in the squad is just as crazy as blaming President Obama and Mayor de Blasio.

For the heck of it, compare the coverage of last June's Las Vegas cop executions by right wing radicals Jerad and Amanda Miller  to this weekend's murders and you will see some stark differences in how they were handled by the media. I won't go into the details here, but look it up. You probably don't even remember who they were, but let's just say their politics were extremely right of center and coverage of their acts of domestic terrorism is significantly different from what happened this past weekend. No one blamed the Tea Party for their actions even though Miller's Facebook rant most closely aligned with their agenda. There is a difference. And if you haven't noticed that, you're not living on the same planet as the rest of us mere mortals. 

So here's the deal: stop the hate speech. Stop fanning the fires. Before you post, ask yourself, "Am I helping or am inciting?" We are long past Reconstruction. We are long past the Civil Rights movement years. We have elected a black president. We are a maturing nation. It's time to start acting as citizen adults. 

Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Take a moment to read Black Moms Tell White Moms About the Race Talk. 

You might get a little bit of an understanding what it's like 

to be the mother of a black teenager.