Civilization Versus Anarchy: Open Season On Cops?

Protestors block a police vehicle from entering the City
 of Ferguson Police Depart. & Municipal Court parking
lot in Ferguson, MO, 3-11-15. REUTERS/Kate Munsch

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: What a tragedy is unfolding in our country. Barack Obama was elected in 2008 in part because large numbers of whites and blacks thought he would bring racial reconciliation. Instead, he has stoked racial discord, leaving every American family (white, black and brown) to wrestle with the consequences.

Three police officers were shot today -- one on Long Island, New York, and two in Ferguson, Missouri. I want to focus on the Ferguson shootings.

Scores of protestors gathered last night outside the Ferguson police department. Just after midnight, three shots were fired. Two officers were hit -- one in the shoulder, one in the face near his eye. The bullet reportedly lodged in his head. The officer's screams after this grievous wound can be heard on video here.

The shooting happened AFTER the police chief had been forced to resign. That obviously didn't satisfy the shooter.

By the way, the wounded officers are not even members of the Ferguson police department. One serves with the St. Louis County Police and the other with the Webster Groves department. The shooter did not care. His intention was to kill cops.

This attack is a lamentable and predictable outcome of the demagoguery promoted by the president, the attorney general and the media about the police in general and in Ferguson specifically. It started with a rush to judgment after the tragic shooting of Michael Brown by an officer who feared for his life.

The media promoted a narrative of "hands up, don't shoot," which we now know from the Justice Department's own report was a fabrication.

Buried in that report, we learned that six witnesses, all of them black, told the same story -- that Brown attacked Wilson, fought with him and never tried to surrender.

After a comprehensive investigation by the Justice Department (involving 100 FBI agents in Ferguson) no basis could be found to file any charges against Officer Wilson.

So the Justice Department changed the narrative. A separate investigation of the Ferguson police department found a few racist emails and what the Justice Department claimed was a pattern of traffic ticket writing that demonstrated racial bias.

But over the past seven months, the facts have not mattered much. There has been a steady drumbeat from the left demonizing law enforcement, creating an atmosphere where the most unbalanced radical elements believe it is open season on cops.

Remember President Obama went to the United Nations and, before an audience that included habitual human rights abusers, held up Ferguson, Missouri, as an example of America's sins. It is not at all surprising that some deranged minds, hearing this constant drumbeat, would think they are doing something noble when they try to murder law enforcement officers.

Attorney General Holder has alleged that the entire Ferguson police force is racist and has threatened to dismantle it. The anti-police atmosphere in Ferguson has been growing day by day, and local officials have warned that the situation was extremely dangerous. Someone decided to dismantle the police department on their own with the barrel of a gun.

The political left is pouring gasoline on a fire. Americans of all races want equality and fairness. They also want safe communities and protection from those who make our cities so dangerous. Thankfully, the constituency for killing police officers is very small.

Racism of any kind is unacceptable and should not be tolerated, especially among those charged with protecting us. We taught our children, and will teach our grandchildren, never to make judgments based on skin color, but instead, as Martin Luther King urged, only on the content of someone's character.

What should good and decent people do? Of course, they should speak out against racism. They should also condemn the demagogues who attempt to exploit race. To know what a real civil rights leader sounds like, they should read, as I recently recommended, Martin Luther King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

Today's shooting in Ferguson is fundamentally not about race, but about a battle between civilization and anarchy.

The notion that racist police officers are the biggest problem bedeviling America's minority communities is absurd. I believe fatherless homes, failing schools, out-of-control gangs and drugs are more significant problems. Where are the president and the attorney general on those issues?
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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