It was becoming perversely familiar, in Baton Rouge Louisiana on July 5th a prone and apparently restrained Afrikan man, Alton Sterling was shot dead by police. The following day another Afrikan man, Philando Castile was shot dead in St Paul, Minnesota. What was less familiar but becoming more common was the capturing of the shooting, in Sterling’s case and its aftermath for Castile on video. Keeping with the familiar theme, demonstrations, largely organised under the aegis of Black Lives Matter were held in protest, while their grieving families endured the evisceration of their characters and reputation in the European media. The protest in downtown Dallas was where the familiarity ended.
Reports emerged on July 8th of shootings at the end of a reportedly peaceful demonstration and the victims were largely police officers. Initial reports were of 11 shootings including 4 fatalities. The final toll was 5 officers slain with 7 more officers and 2 civilians wounded. This account aside, the variance between early reports and the established version are quite stark. Initial reports were of several snipers perpetrating the attack, 3 of whom were subsequently arrested and a forth killed themselves. (1). There was also video footage in circulation of an officer being shot at close range by someone who evidently was not a sniper. Little mentioned was made of these early accounts once the official narrative pinned the shooting on ‘lone wolf’ Micah Xavier Johnson. (2)
Not everybody accepts the official version. SGT Report.com declared: “DALLAS SHOOTING EXPOSED: ‘Lone Gunman’ Micah Johnson Did NOT Act Alone.” (3) There is another historical factor that intersects with some of the implications of the Dallas shootings.
Prior to Dallas, the events surrounding Sterling and Castile though increasingly common were the subject of intensifying global outrage and anger the USA establishment’s extra-judicial killing of Afrikans. Protests were planned across the USA and also in London. Not the first time, when the police have been widely regarded as the epitome of injustice, something happens that purports to swing public sympathy back in their favour utilising phrases like “war on cops.” (4)
Days after the outrage caused by the failure to indict police officers for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michel Brown two New York police officers were allegedly fatally “ambushed” in broad daylight by lone gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley who subsequently ran into a subway station and killed himself. (5) By way of historical correlation, there is the needless 1971 “Panther 21” trial (at that time the longest trial in New York City history) where the state framed 21 members of the New York Black Panther Party that a jury acquitted all 21 in less than an hour, 4 police officers were shot, 2 of them fatally allegedly by the “Black Liberation Army.” (6) Indeed, Black Lives Matter activist Johnetta Elzie has reportedly suggested that “Dallas Cop Ambush Is A Conspiracy To Make Black Lives Matter look bad.” (7)
As it stands the official version is that 25 year old Afghan war veteran Micah Johnson acted alone and that according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown “The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. He wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.” (8) After a standoff during which, According to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, he was given the choice of “surrendering without harm or remaining in place… he chose “the latter”. (9)
The Dallas incident was widely reported as “the deadliest day for US law enforcement officers since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.” (10) but not everyone was caught up in the mainstream narrative. Oklahoma State University academic Lawrence Ware offered a dissenting view to the dominant narrative:
“It happens over and over again. It happened with Trayvon Martin. Then with Eric Garner. It’s now happening with Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In response to Dallas, many who were deafeningly silent in the wake of black death are now vocal in their calls for peace and understanding. They had nothing to say when black folks were dying, but suddenly they are social activists concerned about justice. Stop it. You’re no ally. You’re no accomplice. You’re no lover of justice. You’re a spectator to black suffering. We are little more than a tragic movie that brings up emotion but fades from mind once you’ve left the theater. While you may empathize with our struggle, make no mistake: You aren’t a part of it. You aren’t mistreated, threatened, accosted, embarrassed, beaten and held against your will because of your skin.” (11)
Whoever, Ware may have been referring to, some observers made clear they are not in the “ally” category. Former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh implying that the President of the USA and Black Lives Matter share a unanimity of mission, tweeted (but later deleted) “This now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives punks. Real America is coming for you.” (12)
The Blaze’s media hack and Fox News babe wannabe Tomi Lahren tweeted, then deleted, “Meet the new KKK, they call themselves ‘Black Lives Matter’ but make no mistake, their goals are far from equality,” while Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos, declared: “Black Lives Matter now gunning down police officers. Time to classify it as a terrorist organization. We need President @realDonaldTrump.” (13)
So although Michah Johnson had no known affilation to Black Lives Matter he is being characterised as being part of it and the purported mission of starting a “Race War.” He is not around to verify or expand on the words attributed to him yet, as one commentator noted : “It’s funny how anxious some people are, before the facts have even emerged, to declare a “race war” and blame an entire movement on a despicable act of mass violence.” (14) Which is in stark contrast to the responses to racist Mass Murderer who slayed 9 Afrikans at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Roof made it clear that his intensions were to start a race war, yet most commentaries side-stepped this issue and some even went as far to describe him as a misunderstood loner. (15)
Underpinning, most conservative commentaries is the commitment to defend the USA’s second amendment right to bear arms, adopted in 1791, 72 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. However, some believe this the lack of commitment to guns prevents the UK from descending into the USA nightmare scenario. But The January 2016 announcement that the Metropolitan Police will increase its armed officers by almost a third as well as double the number of armed response vehicles was met with trepidation. (16)
In spite of the mainstream narratives, the protests against police violence continue in the USA and the UK but it remains to be seen how Black Lives Matter will develop its own in response.
(1) (08/07/2016) 5 Dallas Cops Killed By Snipers, 3 Suspects Arrested, Fourth Kills Himself. http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/2-officers-shot-in-dallas-during-us-police-racial-bias-protest-reports-1429221
(2) (09/07/2016) EU Dallas shooting suspect Micah Johnson ‘acted alone’.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36752603
(3) SGT Report.com (08/07/2016) DALLAS SHOOTING EXPOSED: ‘Lone Gunman’ Micah Johnson Did NOT Act Alone. http://sgtreport.com/2016/07/dallas-shooting-exposed-lone-gunman-micah-johnson-did-not-act-alone/
(4) Cahill, Tom (11/07/2016) 4 Facts Debunking the Media’s Lies About the ‘War on Cops’. http://usuncut.com/politics/cops-are-not-under-siege/
(5) Eversley, Melanie, Lackey, Katharine and Hughes, Trevor (21/12/2014) 2 NYPD officers killed in ambush-style shooting. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/20/new-york-city-police-officers-shot/20698679/.
(6) Bin Wahad, Dhoruba (14/12/2015) History 101: The Panther 21, Police Repression, The BLA & Cointel-Pro. http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2015/12/14/the-panther-21-case-a-glimpse-intothe-future-past-of-racist-police-repression/.
(7) Owens, Eric (09/07/2016) Black Lives Matter Leader: Dallas Cop Ambush Is A Conspiracy To Make Black Lives Matter LOOK BAD. http://www.infowars.com/black-lives-matter-leader-dallas-cop-ambush-is-a-conspiracy/
(8) Pelley, Scott (08/07/2016) ‘How the deadly Dallas police ambush unfolded. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dallas-police-ambush-how-the-deadly-shooting-unfolded/
(9) (09/07/2016) Dallas shooting suspect Micah Johnson ‘acted alone’.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36752603.
(10) Ibid.
(11) Ware, Lawrence (09/07/2016) Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Hypocritical Screams of White America After the Dallas Cop Shootings.http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/07/alton-sterling-philando-castile-dallas-white-america/
(12) Williams, Mary Elizabeth (08/07/2016) Conservative media and pundits can’t wait to turn Dallas police shootings into “war”. http://www.salon.com/2016/07/08/conservative_media_and_pundits_cant_wait_to_turn_dallas_police_shootings_into_war/
(13) Ibid.
(14) Ibid.
(15) Hinton, Rachel (25/06/2015) Dylann Roof ‘loner’ rhetoric excuses the inexcusable. http://depauliaonline.com/2015/06/25/dylann-roof-loner-ill-inexcusable/
(16) (14/01/2016) Met Police to get 600 more armed police to boost terror response. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35308467
So tonight we ask the question:
Will marches and protests ever combat police violence?
1. Was Micah Johnson really a ‘lone wolf’ and what happened to the other people arrested?
2. Has public sympathy swung back to the police?
3. Are the actions of Micah Johnson an inevitable of police brutality with no recourse to justice?
4. What are the implications of more armed police in London?
5. What is iNAPP’s position on the current situation in the USA?
Our very special guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence.
Sis. Sara Callaway: of Women of Colour, Global Women’s Strike, a grassroots network with national co-ordinations in a number of countries. The organisation “We work to ensure that power relations among us are addressed, and that each of our struggles is backed by our collective power.”