Juxtaposition on officers’ treatment in cases is striking

Do blue lives only matter depending on the perceived threat to them?

The Miami Herald on “blue lives matter” and the deaths of two police officers after the U.S. Capitol riot:

Do blue lives only matter when Black lives are perceived as the threat to them?

Up until the weekend, when videos began to receive wide circulation, we had heard more about that idiot Adam Johnson – a Floridian of course – accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi’s lectern than we did about the law enforcement officers whom a frenzied mob of white extremists were allowed to bash, beat, slur and kill during their rampage through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. And, not so shockingly, some white police officers from across the country proudly stepped over that thin blue line and joined the lawless mobs. Why is that?

We know why, and anyone who has been paying attention knows why, too.

Police officers are revered by many racist whites whenever equally racist rogues on the force bash, beat, slur and kill African Americans. But police themselves became the enemy last week, and the deafening silence over how – and by whom – they were battered is telling.

We know why.

ONE BY SUICIDE

Never let it be forgotten that Brian Sicknick, a military veteran and member of the Capitol Police was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher. The bloodied man was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. He died the next day.

Never forget, either, Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood. He, too, put his life on the line during the assault on the Capitol. Days later, off duty, he took his life. How could the two events not be connected?

White terrorists beat another officer bloody with a pole bearing the American flag – no, seriously. It’s on video. Black officers were predictably called the n-word.

And never let it be forgotten that one of those Black officers, Eugene Goodman, who, by sheer guts alone took on a white mob, which gave chase as he lured them away from the entrance to the Senate chambers and into a group of police who withstood the assault. Innocent black man, angry white mob. It is a shamefully enduring American story, and Goodman is an American hero.

FIRST LADY’S LAMENT

The law-and-order Trump administration’s only comment was to lower the White House flag to halfstaff on Sunday. On Monday, first lady Melania Trump released a tone-deaf and self-serving statement on WhiteHouse.gov: “Most recently, my heart goes out to: Air Force Veteran, Ashli (Babbitt), Benjamin (Phillips), Kevin Greeson, (Roseanne) Boyland, and Capitol Police Officers, Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. I pray for their families comfort and strength during this difficult time,” she said.

Notice to whom she gave priority, the traitors unleashed by her husband. She then lamented in her statement that she, too, was a victim – a target of “salacious gossip and unwarranted personal attacks.” Again, those blues lives, dead at the hands of whites, were almost an afterthought.

We live in a country where Blacks’ quest for justice is un-American, and white violence is as American as apple pie.

We know why.