Which Lives Matter?

by Stephen Mills, Chief of Police, Apache, OK
  I have purposely refrained from commenting on the recent police involved shootings. I have a long standing practice of not jumping to conclusions before we have all the facts. I will leave that to the mainstream media and the Obama Administration.

  But, with the recent attack on the peaceful Black Lives Matter protest and murder of police officers in Dallas I feel compelled to speak out. Notice I said attack on the Black Lives Matter protest as that is exactly what it was. I also didn’t say White police officers as they weren’t all white. It wasn’t just white people, or black people, or Asians or Hispanics, etc. that were attacked, it was all of us.

  This was an attack by an individual who was so overcome by hate for white people and police officers that he wanted to kill his fellow human beings and didn’t care who might get in the way. Black lives didn’t matter to him. No lives mattered to him. The only thing that mattered was killing white people.

  This is why the idea that saying anything other than “Black Lives Matter” is racist is so very wrong. Yes, black lives matter, and I actually understand what the originators of the slogan were trying to say. The problem is what you were trying to say becomes irrelevant as soon as you try and pretend that saying “all Lives matter” is somehow racist. It completely defeats the meaning of the original slogan.

  I agree, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of those who are different than us. I have been a police officer for a long time and I have never stopped someone for the so called offense of Driving While Black. Nor do I know of any police officer who has, but I’m not ready to say it doesn’t happen and I would concede that somewhere it probably does.

With that said people need to put themselves in the shoes of police officers as well. We have a dangerous job and even though line of duty deaths is going down, assaults on officers aren’t. You can argue there is no so called war on cops all you want, but I strongly believe the recent events in Dallas pretty much proves you wrong. (Disregarding my personal opinion that using the word “war” to describe it is wrong. )

 I have never been a fan of the Black lives Matter movement, believing that it was racist at its core. This belief was solidified in my mind over and over as Black Lives Matter protest where filmed screaming for the deaths of cops or just white people in general. It was further set in stone when so called spokespeople demanded we stop saying “All Lives Matter” and that continuing to say all lives matter was racist.

  After the Dallas Shooting I listened to what the Black Lives Matter protestors and spokesperson in Dallas had to say about the protest and what happened. Their narrative was decidedly different than what self appointed Black Lives Matter spokespeople where saying in other places. In other areas publicized comments were everywhere from excusing the shooters actions to calling him a martyr. In Dallas and then in Oklahoma City, which had a subsequent Black Lives Matter protest scheduled, there were no excuses given. The Narrative wasn’t “we don’t condone this, But” It was “police Brutality is wrong, so is attacking police officers or anybody else.” The Oklahoma City organizers stated the only way to stop police brutality is to work with the police, Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

  Now you can pick whatever side you want regarding police brutality or if Black people are harassed by police officers, but you can’t argue with the points the OKC and Dallas Spokespersons were making. Perception is that person’s reality. The only way to change a perception is to work together.

  Much like my perception of the Black Lives Matter movement as a National whole was solidified as racist by singular events that didn’t happen anywhere near me. The same thing happens when a police officer is perceived to have committed an act of police brutality in a far away local.

  So what is the way forward from here? I strongly hope the Oklahoma City and Dallas viewpoint will spread and we can stop the hate; That we can work together to change the current perceptions that are dividing us.

  We need to stop jumping to conclusions and refusing to believe anything that doesn’t go with our core beliefs. When things happen counter to our core beliefs that is the time to take a hard look at our perceptions. If a segment of society believes they are being victimized by police we need to look at why they have that perception and if it’s a reality, even if it’s only a local reality. Then we need to work together with this group of people to change the perception.

  Now I realize there is always going to be a core group of people who wrap their whole identity around being the victim, or on the police side are just unethical or bad cops. We as police officers need to weed out the bad or unethical cops. If we can successfully do this the hopelessly victim crowd will begin to lose any semblance of credibility and their rhetoric will begin to be ignored.

  I strongly believe the way to do this is through a strong Community Policing program. I don’t mean a program on paper, but an actual program where the community owns the police and is responsible for itself. The crime or problems within a community aren’t the police department’s responsibility, but the responsibility of the community which includes the police department and the citizens.

  With the current plots uncovered to kill more police officers at area protest we can’t wait any longer to change this perception. We owe it to ourselves and to the communities we serve. Be careful out there and wear your vest.

“Everybody needs to be together not apart, everybody needs to be of one accord” (Sterlings Son)

We need to start again and take care of and support each other. I challenge you to be your own Community-Police-Partnership.  As always I am happy to answer any questions you might have and/or read your comments.