On March 12, two officers were shot and wounded by an unknown suspect in what St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmer calls an “ambush,” igniting a manhunt to apprehend the shooter that targeted a line of police officers.
Shots came as protestors started breaking up after holding a night demonstration in the wake of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson’s resignation the day before. A bullet penetrated one officer’s cheeks and lodged behind his ear; another went through another officer’s shoulders and out his back.
Belmar told reporters, “We could have buried two police officers.” Fortunately, both officers remain in stable conditions and have been released from the local hospital.
Despite Jackson’s resignation, demonstrators continued to demand changes like disbanding the city’s entire police department and ousting Mayor James Knowles. That’s where I draw the line. Only problems will come from disbanding the entire police force and the mayor. I think the consequences and stupidity that could arise from these demands is evident.
Both demonstrators and police officers remain bewildered by who the shooter is and what his or her goal is. “I don’t know who did the shooting, but somehow they were embedded in that group of folks,” Belmar said. However, activist DeRay McKesson said on Twitter, “The shooter was not with the protesters. The shooter was atop the hill.”
It’s safe to say that the shooter carried out his or her own nefarious plan for what he or she believed fair. The shooter shot at the line of police officers not because these officers were explicitly discriminatory or bigots, but simply because they were dressed in uniform. The perpetrator should understand that murdering police officers in retribution for Brown will not solve the underlying problem, racial bias.
The coward shot approximately 125 yards away, a long distance for a hand gun. Three were arrested for questioning.
A week ago, President Obama visited Selma and walked the same bridge that Martin Luther King, Jr. marched through as a reminder of the progress made and a symbol to keep moving forward. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent march over Edmund Pettus Bridge embodied his philosophy on progressive racial advancement, he said, “There is more power in socially organized masses on the march than there is in guns in the hands of a few desperate men.”
A tweet signed by President Obama says, “Violence against police is unacceptable. Our prayers are with the officers in MO. Path to justice is one all of us must travel together. –bo.”
When I heard of this violent act, I became bemused. The protestors got what they wanted, the Ferguson Police Chief’s resignation, so what more does the shooter want? I understand the community believes that an 18 year-old boy was unjustly killed and that calls for, we hope, nonviolent demonstrations. I understand that the initial anger and rage may lead to some violent demonstrations, but it should never be the answer. But what I can’t understand is why now, after their long fought efforts that resulted in a police chief’s resignations, that they feel a need to turn to violence.
Attempting to solve violence with violence only breeds more violence. Justice isn’t a target to be shot. Justice isn’t a police officer to murder for redemption. Justice is a long and painstaking march that transcends violence and strives to end all injustice, one that may arise from both sides.
