Ash writes: "Attorney General Lynch is the best-positioned person in the nation to confront excessive police violence. As the head of the Department of Justice she has more powerful tools at her disposal than any other law enforcement officer in the nation. But she will not use the power that she has."
The scene in Dallas as police came under sniper fire. (photo: LM Otero/AP)
08 July 16
ou said: “All of us as Americans should be troubled by the shootings.”
All of us are. To make matters worse, 12 police officers have apparently been shot in Dallas at a demonstration to protest the shootings. Reportedly five of them are dead.
Attorney General Lynch is the best-positioned person in the nation to confront excessive police violence. As the head of the Department of Justice she has more powerful tools at her disposal than any other law enforcement officer in the nation. But she will not use the power that she has.
Instead, she and Vanita Gupta, who heads the department’s Civil Rights Division, launch investigation after investigation for political cover, always deciding in the end not to proceed with charges.
Yes, for the record, Civil Rights charges in many of these cases can be brought. Most recently in the case of black Chicago police officer Aldo Brown. Brown was in fact charged and convicted on Civil Rights charges for beating a suspect armed with a gun, in violation of the constitution.
So it can be done. Neither of your Attorney General appointees however has ever chosen to do it. So here we are in the middle of a bloodbath that can only be mitigated by justice. Not justice for some, but justice for all.
You also said, “We have extraordinary appreciation and respect for the vast majority of police officers.” Would you like to have less respect for American police officers? Watch this video. I guarantee you will never respect a police officer again.
As of today, The Guardian’s count of people killed by police officers in the U.S. this year stands at 566. Last year it was over 1200. Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, the man killed by police as he sat in his car, said it plainly, “We’re being hunted, every day. It’s a silent war against African-American people as a whole.” To separate police officers shot from people shot by police officers expands the conflict. To end the conflict, there must be justice for all.
I’ve said it before, most recently in January of this year, you and Attorney General Lynch must act. Until you do that, the violence is going to continue to escalate. This is a problem that cannot be solved at a podium. It must be confronted with federal authority when local jurisdictions cannot or will not act. You must.
It will only get worse until you do.
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
