BLM and the L.A. Sheriffs’ Ambush

Sept 18, 2020—

“Let me be real clear. I pray for the lives of those two officers just like I pray for Jacob Blake,” Al Sharpton told MSNBC two days after the Sept. 12 ambush of two L.A. County Sheriffs. “And I pray for the family of George Floyd, and I pray for all of them in the same prayer.” Yes, that Al Sharpton, the divisive Black Methodist minister. 

I’m not an Al Sharpton fan, but I’ve got so say he did the right thing. He may as well have said, “All Lives Matter,” even blue ones. And in today’s cancel culture that takes courage. And note that he said this even though he was in no way responsible for the ambush. Neither, of course, was Joe Biden, who said:

This cold-blooded shooting is unconscionable and the perpetrator must be brought to justice. … Jill and I are keeping the deputies and their loved ones in our hearts and praying for a full recovery.

Both Sharpton and Biden likely made their statements for two reasons. First, they did so out of human decency. Second, the statements are politically astute. Either one could be accused by their political opponents of supporting or being indirectly responsible for the ambush. And if they said nothing, that would lend credibility to such charges, wrong though they would be.

Sharpton’s statement omit’s any condemnation of the crime. That proves nothing, and it’s not morally wrong. But condemning such a cold-blooded act is so natural, that it does raise questions. Did Sharpton omit this because a significant part of this base is actually sympathetic to the would-be-murderer?

So What Did BLM Have to Say?

Black Lives Matter is also not responsible for the ambush. But they are even more likely to be seen as sympathetic to it or even as wanting to encourage more of the same. So they have even stronger reasons to speak out against it — unless they really do want to encourage such violence.

Perhaps I’ve missed it, but I can find nothing similar being said by the founders of Black Lives Matter. That’s odd because they were not shy about condemning Black Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot when she called out looting as “abject criminal behavior.” BLM’s published response said in part:

“The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished.”

If they were that quick to support looting and trash Mayor lightfoot, why couldn’t the say something about the ambush?

One clue about their motivation is a comment by Black Lives Matter co-creator Alicia Garza.

After the George Floyd murder, rioting broke out in a number of cities and there was a lot of talk about who exactly were the rioters. Garza was upset with this talk because, she said, it distracted from the “conversation of how we got here.” 

So the rioters were no distraction at all, but talking about them is?

How does self-described “AfroMarxist” Graza explain this? She told MSNBC she didn’t want to criticize the rioters because “The reality is we can’t get caught in this trope of good protester versus bad protester.”

By refusing to acknowledge that rioters were “bad protesters” or to disown them in any way, she is lumping all of the “protesters” together, which can only mean she considers them all good for her cause. That position really is distracting.

Much more importantly, as Sharpton and Biden understood, it’s bad politics. This is no way to win allies against police brutality. And it’s a good way to help Trump win the presidency — again.