The President Creates Toxic Atmosphere for Police...

When President Obama was elected for the first time, I watched his inauguration and listened to his speech. Although, I was not a supporter of his, I did get a sense of hope.  The first thing that came to mind and to most people’s minds was that this was a big step towards total equality for the black population. The fact that a black President was elected this would be a great blow to racism in our country and race relations. Or so we thought.

As his Presidency progressed, certain incidents would come up in the media where race would be injected.  In many, if not most cases, race was not the key factor, but may have been present down on the list.

Prior Presidents would comment on issues in general and normally would not comment on specific cases and if they did, it would be to show faith in whichever authority was handling the matter.

The first incident I remember where the President commented was the black professor that was away on a trip to China (2009). When he returned to his home in Cambridge MA, he had trouble getting into his house because the door was jammed shut. A neighbor, still thinking the professor was away, called the Police and reported a possible burglary in progress. The Police responded and the professor was initially thought to be a burglar. The professor was subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct in which the charges were later dropped.  Obviously, a mistake on the part of the Officer, but the Media ran with it and it was suggested that the Officer was “profiling” the professor.  I’m assuming that because it was turned into a race issue the President felt compelled to comment on the incident. Amongst other things, the President said, “…that the Cambridge police acted stupidly…”.  I found it odd that the President of the United States would be commenting on a minor incident such as this.

There was the Tryvon Martin incident in 2013 where the President commented that “Tryvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” Although this incident did not directly involve Police, the comments made by the President following Zimmerman being found not guilty showed that he questioned the decision. Zimmerman later commented about the President that he was  ”…making racially charged comments and pitting American against American.”

It starts off slowly, but there is a theme here.  His comments regarding the Cambridge Police show a distrust for Police and now the Zimmerman verdict shows a distrust for the justice system. Both incidents involving race where the President perpetuates the belief that the system is slanted against black Americans. Don’t get me wrong, there is no question that racism exists and people’s perceptions and biases towards black people can determine how someone might react in a situation. The issue is that this is the President of the United States. What he says matters! Especially in regards to the black community.  If the President is validating this belief and he can’t do anything about it, then what kind of message does that send to the black community? For me, I might feel powerless and angry.

The President’s job is to reassure people that justice will be served and show confidence in the system, even if he personally does not believe it. Why you ask? Because when the President talks, people listen. If you give some group of radicals the littlest reason to act out, they will.

Now more recently this issue has progressed.  Michael Brown , Eric Garner, Freddy Gray , each of these incidents involving Police and the death of a black male. The President’s comments on each of these incidents had an undertone of distrust for the Police involved and the court system handling the cases. 

After the Eric Garner case on December  8, 2014 in an interview of the President on BET he completely validated that Police are targeting blacks. Even saying that he himself as a young black man has experienced this. Less than two weeks later, two NYPD Police Officers were eating their lunches in a patrol car when they were executed at point blank, four days before Christmas.

To date, the killing of Police Officers has continued as a direct result of the anti-Police atmosphere that the President of the United States has created along with the Media and their complete disregard for public safety.

-Sean