A few days ago a European-American firefighter in Lansing, Michigan was murdered by a European-American.
The firefighter was volunteering at a muscular dystrophy fundraiser. The murderer was irritated at the traffic delays the fundraiser caused so with his vehicle he ran down the firefighter.
That hit me hard as my nephew is a paramedic and works with fire departments on the East Coast.
But this also reminded me of the demagoguery that has falsely accused those of us concerned about the use of force by police on minorities with inciting minorities to attack the police.
Those concerned about the police use of lethal force have been advocating changes in police procedures and criminal investigations and when warranted prosecutions of officers whose use of force violated procedures and crossed the line into a crime.
Both the President and the Attorney General have been consistent in their condemnation of all attacks on police and their support for the police.
Only the most vile type of demagoguery could distort that to claim that is incitement to attack our police.
Such demagoguery distracts from reality. When we are distracted from reality we are not supporting our first responders.
Our first responders are in most danger when responding to crimes and domestic violence from suspects of all ethnicities.
Our first responders are at risk from road rage as happened in Michigan.
When a person with mental illness cites a political reason for their attack on the police, we need to remain focused on the person's mental illness.
Most of the politically motivated attacks on our first responders have been by European-Americans who are on the right wing of the political spectrum. Politically motivated attacks by ethnic minorities are rare.
Firefighter, Black, and All Lives Matter.
This is an issue for firefighters and their families, African-Americans, and all Americans. (That was inspired by Hilary Clinton's recent speech in Wisconsin.)
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I consider what I post as background research and talking points.I would be honored if others found something useful for their work.
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