Pictures of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, the two officers murdered by Ismaayl Brinsley on Saturday
Is it a surprise, a young, 29 year old black man took it upon himself to methodically murder two New York City cops as they sat unsuspectingly in their squad car Saturday afternoon?
From reports, the shooter, Ismaayl Brinsley earlier on Saturday shot his former girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in the abdomen at her home in a suburban Baltimore, Maryland apartment complex-she's in critical but stable condition-before traveling by bus to New York City, proceeding to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area in Brooklyn and proceeded to shoot the two cops, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos before shooting himself in the head as he was being chased.
A social media "Instagram", apparently posted by Brinsley on Saturday indicated he was in Brooklyn with the message, "I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours"lets take 2 of theirs # shoot the police# RIP Eric Garner #RIP Mike Brown this may be my final post". Hours later Liu and Ramos were found shot in the head.
Of course this is a terrible tragedy for the families of the two officers; two innocent victims murdered probably for no other reason than they were uniformed cops just sitting there making for easy targets for Brinsley to blindly retaliate and take out his rage.
This probably wouldn't have happened in a just and civil society where mutual respect exists not only among its citizenry but also for the authorities that are supposed to provide honest protection for that citizenry.
Can anyone honestly say that exists in America?
Oh sure, in predominantly white communities where the police are viewed as protectors. Can we say the same for black and Latino communities where profiling and rousting of young black and brown men by police is a daily norm?
Reading the MSM, they made a point of describing Brinsley as anti-social, a loner with a criminal record, was psychologically disturbed, a high school dropout, all with the clear implication this background was the basis for his rage.
There was no mention of the American society Brinsley was born, raised and grew up in. It was if only these "peculiarities" were the sole reasons for him committing this awful murder.
But taking a quick look at what's been happening all over America lately, particularly in the aftermath of police killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August. The grand jury failed to indict police officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Brown and now evidence emerges one of the key jurors whose testimony was critical to his not being indicted, wasn't even in the vicinity at the time of the shooting so her testimony was completely contrived.
Then there's the video showing white police choking Eric Garner on the ground and he's heard saying, "I can't breathe" while the police persist and he dies within their grasp and no officer is subsequently indicted for this crime. To any neutral observer this does not reflect police respect for the citizenry it's supposed to protect, it's rather police brutality, pure and simple.
So that a Brinsley takes his revenge on innocent policemen is shocking. But it's another indicator of a dysfunctional society where what is perceived as police brutality and murder are exonerated and not held to account, probably becomes the catalyst for him lashing out against police and the two uniformed officers sitting in a squad car make for an easy target.
Official Washington authorizes torture, kills and maims innocents in its illegal wars and occupations while those officials who authorized the brutality and murder are not held to account but free to write memoirs and invited as guests on the Sunday talk shows justifying and defending the unspeakable.
Of course, the latter isn't directly connected to the brutal murder of Liu and Ramos by Brinsley.
But it's all indicative of a society's civil breakdown where official wrongdoing is rampant and not held accountable.
