Over the weekend, Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered New York City policemen Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, after leaving messages stating he was going to take revenge for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner by killing “pigs.” Brinsley’s actions, of course, took place against the backdrop of a months long media campaign intended to convince the public that racist cops are gunning down innocent blacks such as Brown and Garner, a campaign abetted by many politicians.
The head of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has said that New York Mayor de Blasio has blood on his hands as a result of the murder of these policemen. And indeed he does. But so do all the politicians and media personalities who have fueled the campaign against the police that began with the egregious distortion of what happened in Ferguson.
Michael Brown is dead because he assaulted a police officer and tried to take away his gun. Eric Garner is dead because he resisted arrest. But Officers Liu and Ramos are dead for no reason other than they were policemen. Unlike Brown and Garner, they actually were innocent victims who were doing nothing wrong.
The New York police are to be commended for making clear that de Blasio will not be welcome at police funerals, and they should extend this non-invitation to any representative of the Obama Administration. After all, the Obama White House has been as welcoming to Al Sharpton as de Blasio’s Gracie Mansion, and the Obama Administration did nothing to calm tensions after Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson. Far from it.
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