The war on police is part of a larger culture war.
The Obama administration, the leftists, anarchists and Democrats who support this war have created a dangerous climate in America.
First, let’s state the obvious.
{mosads}To those who want to play the race card, I am a black man, I am a Republican and I also get to speak from experience. However, unlike most blacks on the issue of policing in the black or any other community, I have reported on and studied the data to add to my anecdotal experience. A little education goes a long way to dispelling false narratives, which hinder the ability to tackle issues with a solutions-oriented approach.
Are there bad police officers? Of course there are. In any organization for a variety of reasons this can happen. Are most police officers good and committed to protecting their communities by upholding the law? Yes.
Police in America are often seen through the lens of media when there is a negative outcome in an interaction with a criminal or citizen. However, on a daily basis they pull injured people out of accidents, help clear a path to the hospital for medical emergencies, arrest criminals, investigate crimes and much more. Police officers are, like all of us, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. They are not some external occupying force but members of our communities. Their greatest overarching function is to be a stabilizing force in our community reinforcing the will of most Americans for law and order. Policemen, like all people, have the right to make a mistake.
It is also important to remember that when there is a bad police officer, there are ways set up in our justice system to address it — and prosecute, if necessary.
This is one time I wish President Obama would lead from behind — as in standing behind the police officers who serve America’s communities. Sadly, the divisive approach he’s been taking is the modus operandi of the Obama administration and its progressive supporters.
Obama has been outspoken at times without all the facts. With Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates, he stated he didn’t have all the facts but that the police acted stupidly. In the case of Trayvon Martin, he said if he had a son he would look like Trayvon, injecting race further into the tragic event. In Ferguson, Obama called Al Sharpton, a known race-baiter, his liaison on race.
Loretta Lynch, Obama’s attorney general, spoke eloquently from Baltimore about justice regarding the death of Freddie Gray. But while she spoke about the 25-year-old career criminal, she said nothing about 25-year-old NYPD officer Brian Moore, who was at the same time being buried in Long Island with some 30,000 people in attendance. It would seem appropriate that the nation’s top law enforcement officer would acknowledge this, at a minimum. But, simply put, it does not fit the administration’s anti-police agenda.
Whether by his own public statements or the times he sends his subordinates to speak for him, the president sets the tone and is in a position to change the tone. He cannot be the leader and absent of any responsibility.
Our culture is under attack from within, and by some inspired by bad actors outside our borders. The breakdown of our culture and communal cohesion can only benefit those who wish to fundamentally transform America. The failure of leadership can be seen in too many examples in our communities. Our citizens bear some of the responsibility, because they elect and support these false or ineffective leaders in some manner. Those who bear no responsibility are the criminals. In fact, broken communities are where business is booming, as discontent and despair become dulled by a growing number of drug users.
There isn’t a cookie-cutter model to address this problem, and there are hard choices to be made. We will lose some in the battle. Some will have to be dealt with harshly in the justice system. Many can be saved and given the simple chance at opportunity equality. The cries of income inequality are false, and are a result of the lies being sold by the president, Lynch, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, State’s Attorney Carolyn Mosby, Sharpton and many others — not a cause. In many ways these people are the abusers and the cowards who will not work toward solutions.
America has to decide and act at all levels to reject unlawful behavior and disorder in our culture. Stand with, not against, those who protect and serve on a daily basis.
Webb is host of “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot 125, a Fox News contributor and has appeared frequently on television as a commentator. Webb co-founded TeaParty365 in New York City and is a spokesman for the National Tea Party Federation. His column appears twice a month in The Hill.