In New York City the other day a madman shot his girlfriend, brutally murdered two policemen, and then killed himself. Ismaayiyl Brinsley was a man with a long troubled past and lengthy criminal history. There are many things we know about him but more that we don’t.
Brinsley, supposedly a Muslim, had been arrested over 20 times, spent two years in prison and in 2011 he answered “yes” when asked if he had ever been in a mental institution or under the care of a psychiatrist. He was estranged from his family and his mother said that she was afraid of him because of his erratic behavior.
Brinsley in my opinion was a sick and troubled man all his life, which would lead me to believe that he acted only out of his personal pathology, tried to take the life of the one person who was closest to himself, then took the lives of innocent police officers. From all accounts I have read, he was on track to commit horrible crimes already and something triggered the violent actions that resulted in a most tragic loss for all of us.
One does not have to be a medical professional to figure this out despite the media hype and political posturing. If this movement had not been news, the whole media coverage would be vastly different in this case of a deranged man committing a crime that it seems he was going to do anyway. Brinsley had nothing to do with our protest movement, yet he has affected it so deeply. He was sick, and we all know it.
So why all the finger pointing and accusations being directed towards Mayor De Baisio and our President by former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Gulianni and New York’s police nnion?
I am thinking that there is a segment of the population that does not want to give legitimacy to the argument we are posing relative to the abuse of citizens of color by some police officers who are insensitive to their actions. I also expect that those abusive policies that they have been using for years will become justifiable in their twisted minds and the violence against us may escalate as their justification to harm us now because two of theirs have fallen. It’s deflection, a perfect way for them to try and shut down the movement or take away our momentum, but it won’t work. Brinsley only gave them the excuse they needed.
The media spin creates an illusion that we all know is not true but provides lots of drama for ratings increase. But it’s up to us to redirect the focus to the true issues and not become distracted. Even the families of those previously slain by other police officers reached out in sympathy to the families of the NYPD officers who were murdered by Brinsley and we’re all so sorry for their losses.
In contrast, if the media actually provided the public with an accurate depiction of unjust policing, perhaps they would have given equal media coverage to the recent San Diego policing event where officers were called to the scene of a park where a deranged White male with a gun taunted the police for over an hour before eventually being arrested. Unlike the New York policing event where an African-American male was choked to death, this White male was merely wounded by nine police officers who pleaded with him for 30 minutes to move away from his “real” weapon.
Where is the media and why was the latter event not considered newsworthy? We know the outcome: the White guy lived and the Black one died.
Policing policies are strikingly different with obvious results. This was not an east or west coast issue. This was a Black/White issue. This wasn’t a media event because of the result, which is why our movement is so necessary. It exposes the inadequacies in our policing policy and the unjust outcome.
Our movement toward social justice for all people cannot be sidetracked for any reason. Black lives matter. All lives matter. Equality for all people matters and we have a responsibility to stand up together to make sure that reforms are made to our system of policing that is fair to both sides of the debate that cannot end.
Enough is enough.
Let me know your thoughts.
(The Rev. Rodney Beard is pastor of The Living Word Community Church in Nashville and president of The National Action Network for Greater Nashville. Contact him at pastorbeard@comcast.net.)
https://tsdmemphis.com/news/2014/dec/25/we-cant-be-distracted-movement-must-continue/
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