President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised Dallas police officers including the five slain at a protest against police violence last week for saving lives during the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement in almost 15 years.
“We know that the overwhelming majority of police officers do an incredibly hard and dangerous job fairly and professionally,” Obama told a memorial service for the slain police officers. “They are deserving of our respect and not our scorn.”
Following the ceremony Obama planned to meet with the families of the slain policemen and others who were wounded. The slain officers were Mike Smith, 55; Lorne Ahrens, 48; Michael Krol, 40; Brent Thomson, 43, and Patrick Zamarripa, 32.
At the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors on Monday, Common also took time to pay homage to the women of the movement for black rights who’ve worked tirelessly to disrupt injustice and police brutality.
In addition to praising Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur and other women of the movement, the rapper honored “everyday women” like Diamond Reynolds, who courageously documented her boyfriend Philando Castile’s last moments after he was gunned down by a cop.
“Black women, we see you. We love you. We are with you and we believe in your leadership.”
The standoff with one woman, identified by friends as Leishia Evans and captured in a widely used image by Reuters freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman, has encapsulated for some the spirit of demonstrators across the United States protesting in the past week what they decry as unjust treatment of minorities by police.
Evans is a licensed practical nurse who lives in Pennsylvania, according to online records and a Facebook page that appears to belong to her.
“This is the work of God,” she wrote on Facebook after her arrest. “I am a vessel! Glory to the most high! I’m glad I’m alive and safe.”
Philando Castile, 32, had been accused by police of more than 50 violations in the two counties that encompass the suburb of Falcon Heights, where he was killed ― a record that stretches back to when he was 19, court records show.
The dozens of citations were for minor infractions that included speeding, improperly displaying a license plate and driving without proof of insurance; nearly half of the charges were eventually dismissed outright.
“We want people to know ‘driving while black’ has been an issue ― drivers pulled over for implicit bias,” Rashad Turner, an organizer with Black Lives Matter St. Paul, said last week.
The NAACP of St. Paul estimates that 80 percent to 90 percent people pulled over by St. Anthony police in the Falcon Heights jurisdiction are “either African-American or native African” and are cited for minor infractions, according to chapter president Jeffry Martin.
Follow HuffPost on Facebook and Twitter
©2016 The Huffington Post | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from the Huffington Post
Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe
No comments:
Post a Comment