When our divided nation talks about police, race and crime, sometimes it’s hard to find the right words. Rudy Giuliani says the label #BlackLivesMatter is inherently racist; Donald Trump is apparently insensitive when he tweets about crime in “inner cities.” Is the angry crowd outside the courthouse “protesting,” or “rioting?”
But as this current crisis roils, I’ve found a word to cling to that helps me remember what’s important: Citizen.
How would you — or better still, an activist NRA member — respond to a story about an American citizen killed by an incompetent or overzealous government worker simply for legally carrying a gun? As a former talk-radio host, I can tell you my lines would be loaded with gun-rights supporters demanding government heads roll.
Well that’s apparently what happened in Philando Castile case. (Yes, there were other factors such as the report of a recent robbery, etc.) But why is the story “A white cop shot a black man”? Isn’t the real story “A government agent charged with protecting our rights needlessly killed one of my fellow citizens?”
Because that’s the most important fact about every American killed by the police, whether the shooting was justified or not: They are our fellow citizens.
My problem with #BLM isn’t that they’re racist, it’s that they’re “redundant.” The tragedy of Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C., (unarmed when he was gunned down from behind) or Anthony Hill in Atlanta, Ga., (unarmed and NAKED when killed by a panicky cop) isn’t the race of the dead men or the police who shot them. It’s the fact that our government killed one of us — Americans. These men were killed by government agents whose job is to protect the same American values I count on to protect me and my family.
Global, secular progressives would argue that every human life lost is tragic. But as an American who truly believes in our exceptionalism and the unique power of our constitutional principles, I see an additional layer of tragedy: Why didn’t our principles of individual liberty defend these individual lives?
That’s the job of the police — period.
Yes, it’s true that the vast majority of citizens shot by the police are the bad guys, engaged in bad behavior. And yes it’s naive to believe that cops can ignore the fact that young, black men are disproportionately responsible for violent crime.
But, hey — nobody said being on the front lines of defending America’s constitution would be easy.
When a cop approaches a driver, if the dynamic is “armed government regulator imposes order on potential criminal,” we have already lost. The police are not our occupiers, and we are not their fearful serfs.
In fact, the most important person in that encounter is the citizen — not the cop. Because the citizen has been endowed with inalienable rights, while the officer has sworn to uphold them. The cop chose that job, and we honor him/her for it. And if risk must be taken to protect those rights, it’s the officer’s job to take them.
Every American citizen has the right to expect that.
Michael Graham is the Washington Examiner’s multimedia director. Follow him on Twitter at @iammgraham. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
