I protest police brutality, not the existence of police.
My goal is to show solidarity with those whom I cannot comfort, and anger at the senseless loss of life. As as a crime victim in the past, I know that police can be necessary.
In Dallas, where I live, I have seen the police handle demonstrations with calm resolve and watchfulness. Before shots ripped through their ranks last Thursday night, some officers posed for smiling photos of themselves with a few of the protesters who demonstrated against the fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
There are protests in Dallas demanding reasonable immigration policies, protests decrying the mistreatment of Palestinians and Syrians, and protests against police brutality. We gather and march in safety, largely because members of the Dallas Police Department show up in force to protect us and prevent violence.
Since 2010, Dallas has had a black police chief, David Brown, who came up through the ranks and who lost his own son to police gunfire only seven weeks after he became chief. The young man reportedly had been on drugs and fatally shot a suburban police officer before being shot to death by police.
I would have liked to have been at last week’s march to protest the killings in Louisiana and Minnesota. The protest—by all accounts peaceful—was ending when a hateful black man, who told police he wanted to kill white cops, ambushed the police, fatally shot five police officers, and wounded eleven people, including two guards at the El Centro campus of Dallas Community College and two protesters.
The gunman turned an educational institution— attended by many students of color— into a war zone. After hours of trying to negotiate with him, police sent in a robot to blow him up. (The precedent has now been set, but I hope this particular weapon will not be misused by other departments.)
The day after the ambush, city government and religious leaders gathered in downtown Dallas. Mayor Mike Rawlings said that racial issues must be confronted, and local religious leaders offered up prayers. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Tea Party Republican, stood next to them.
Later, in a television interview, Patrick called the protesters “hypocrites” for running from the bullets and expecting the men and women in blue to protect them. He suggested that people who protest the police don’t deserve their protection.
I believe exercising my rights to free speech and peaceful assembly mark me as an authentic American. Those who frame protests as an issue of color—black versus blue—and use color as a way of denying protesters their rights as citizens, are scapegoating and demonizing people without cause.
They should be demanding answers just as vigorously as we do. They should be just as angry about the videos which show highly questionable police behavior.
In the meanwhile, we will all do our best to remain peaceful.
Starita Smith, Ph.D., is a writer and sociologist who lives in Texas. She can be reachedatpmproj@progressive.org.