Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Sheriff David Clarke appeared on Fox News to talk about the shooting Thursday night of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri. As of this writing, the shooter is still at large.
Sheriff Clarke packed lots of good stuff in that five-minute interview. He reminded viewers that he’d said war had been declared on the America police officer. “Some people thought I was engaging in hyperbole. But as we can see this assault on the American officer continues.”
He said it’s unfathomable that we’ve gotten to this point, but this was his biggest fear when President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Mayor Bill de Blasio “trashed the reputation of an entire profession.”
Sheriff Clarke criticized the president’s tweeted response to the shooting (the word tweet makes it sound even more superficial, doesn’t it?). He has this advice for the president, Holder, and certain young black men:
“I need the president of the United States and the Attorney General to remind our young black men in these American ghettos that they have an obligation to comply with a law enforcement officer’s lawful commands, and that if we want to end these deadly encounters, it’s going to be incumbent upon them to stop fighting the police, stop resisting arrest, stop engaging the police in foot pursuits, and stop trying to disarm them.”
The president and Holder are sending confusing messages by condemning violence against the police on the one hand, and calling police racists and poorly trained on the other. And Holder invoked Emmett Till as symbolic of what happened in Ferguson. A frustrated Sheriff Clarke reminded viewers that Till’s death was not an officer-involved incident.
“But when they make those sorts of statements, they are fanning the flames of racial discord. And so they’re having it both ways.”
Watch the video for more.
