By Karen Stokes
Republican Senator Ron Johnson while attending a Balloon Fest in Wausau, commented on the recent police shooting in Dallas. (Photo by WSAW)
“The gunman himself talked about who he was inspired by, the groups that are going around. I’ve seen the video of thugs walking through alleys chanting, ‘What do we want?’ again, their words, not mine, ‘Dead cops, when do we want them?”, again, their words not mine, ‘now’. There are elements in this country that are exacerbating these problems and that’s got to end.”
Republican Senator Ron Johnson made these comments in an interview in Wausau last Saturday, two days after the shooting of the Dallas police officers and a few days after the murders of two Black men by police.
Johnson did not offer any specifics on when he witnessed the video, what group, if any, that these “thugs” were affiliated with and who specifically were the elements in the country exacerbating the problems.
Another specific that was missing was what, if anything is he doing to solve the problem?
The nation is in mourning after the fatal shootings last week of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana both caught on video and both Black men.
Groups of demonstrators all over the country are exercising their first amendment rights and protesting police abuse.
On Thursday night nearing the conclusion of a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration in downtown Dallas, an armed sniper gunned down five police officers, in addition, wounded seven officers and 2 civilians.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said in an interview that the shooter Micah Johnson 25, a Black Army veteran, said that “He was upset about Black Lives Matter, he was upset about the recent police shootings. The subject said he was upset at white people. The subject said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”
President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush and Captain Brown encouraged unity when addressing a crowd of approximately 2000 on Tuesday at the Dallas Memorial for the five slain police officers.
President Obama spoke about difficult truths to varying sides of the tragedy.
“We cannot simply turn away and dismiss those in peaceful protest as troublemakers or paranoid, we can’t simply dismiss it as a symptom of political correctness or reverse racism. To have your experience denied like that, dismissed by those in authority, dismissed perhaps even by your white friends and co-workers and fellow church members again and again and again-it hurts,” said President Obama to applause.
“We also know what Chief Brown has said is true, that so much tension between police departments and minority communities that they serve is because we ask the police to do too much, and we ask too little of ourselves,” President Obama said.
“Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions,” said President Bush.
These were important words addressed for yet another violent tragedy. Words that were needed to begin to heal a nation and possibly stop the violence.
“With an open heart, we can worry less about which side has been wronged, and worry about joining sides to be right,” President Obama said. ” Our character is not found in isolation. Hope does not arise by putting our fellow man down, it is found by lifting others up.”