Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Are White Men Waging the Real 'War on Cops'?
________________________________________
Are White Men Waging the Real 'War on Cops'?
By Chauncey DeVega [1] / Salon [2]
November 3, 2016
The Right-wing echo chamber plays the same notes over and over again. One
such talking point is the lie that groups such as Black Lives Matter and
"inner city" residents are waging a "war" on America's police [3].
When the fascist Donald Trump brays about how America's police are under
"siege" [4] and that no one "respects" them anymore he is channeling this
lie.
Fox New's Sean Hannity channels this lie [5] when he says, ".Black Lives
Matter is not the answer. They only make things worse because their
advancing narrative is killing cops."
His compatriot Bill O'Reilly also channels this lie when he says "we have
open season on the cops" and that Black Lives Matter is a "hate group."
When Rush Limbaugh says Black Lives Matter is a "terrorist group" [6],
again, he too is channeling this lie.
This narrative is old. It can trace its roots to the origins of America as a
society where black people were owned as human property and white people
lived in perpetual fear of slave uprisings and rebellions. In the 1960s and
early 1970s, President Richard Nixon mastered it with his pronouncements
about "law and order" and promises to defend the (white) silent majority
against "riots" and "inner city" crime. Nixon's law and order-Southern
Strategy playbook is still being imitated by Republicans and movement
conservatives five decades later.
In all, the image of black and brown people waylaying police, running amok
in America's streets, and being a unique and perpetual threat to law and
order is a white racist fantasy. Black offenders are not more likely to kill
police officers [7] than are white offenders. And in terms of raw numbers,
white offenders actually killed more police than black offenders. A recent
study in the journal Violence and Gender also found that in 2014 white men
constituted 54 percent of those who killed law enforcement agents.
The idea of black and brown people waging a war on the police titillates and
terrorizes White America. And by doing, such fantasies serve the interests
of the elite and the powerful by distracting too many white people from the
real threats they face - economic, social, physical, and political - from
people who look like them as opposed to some type of nebulous black and
brown Other.
To wit: On Wednesday two white police officers, Anthony Beminio and Justin
Martin were shot and killed [8] in an ambush-style attack in the Des Moines,
Iowa metro area.
A suspect, Scott Michael Greene, was arrested Wednesday. Like the victims,
Greene is a white man.
The Des Moines Register provides [9] further details:
Local police are trying to figure out why an Urbandale man allegedly
ambushed two metro police officers in the dead of night, gunning them down
without warning as they sat 2 miles apart in their patrol cars. The deaths
early Wednesday morning shocked the Des Moines and Urbandale police
departments, prompting both to take extra precautions to ensure officers'
safety. Des Moines paired its officers so no one was patrolling alone, Sgt.
Paul Parizek said.Police said it appeared that both officers were taken by
surprise and had no opportunity to defend themselves. Urbandale police Chief
Ross McCarty said it appeared that Greene walked up to Martin's patrol car
and fired 15 to 30 shots into the driver's side of the vehicle. "The
puzzling thing about this is that (Officer Martin) didn't have any idea or
warning or fear that anything was wrong," McCarty said. Martin appeared to
be stopped in his vehicle. "We're assuming (Greene) walked up on foot."
As reported by the Independent, Scott Michael Greene was recently recorded
waving the Confederate flag [10] at a high school sporting event in an
apparent effort to provoke and offend African-Americans sitting nearby.
Police removed him from the venue. Greene also appears to support 2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump [11].
The shooting of Anthony Beminio and Justin Martin, allegedly by Scott
Michael Green, is part of a larger pattern.
Using data from the Officer Down Memorial Page [12], New York Daily News
writer Shaun King has shown that in the first part of 2016 white men
constituted 71 percent of alleged cop killers [13]. This does not include
the recent shootings of white police officers such as Dan Glaze, Darrell
Spells, Joseph Zangaro, and Ronald Kienzle allegedly by white suspects -
incidents which did not receive a large amount of national coverage or cause
a panic among the right-wing news entertainment media.
Moreover, federal law enforcement agencies have identified [14] the
Sovereign Citizens movement and other Right-wing militias as posing a
greater threat to American domestic security than Islamic terrorists [15].
This warning is well-founded: Since 2001, Sovereign Citizens and other
Right-wing "militia" members have killed more Americans than Islamic
terrorists. These organizations are majority white and many of them have
connections to white supremacist and white nationalist organizations. One
such group, the Oath Keepers, says they will be following Donald Trump's
commands by intimidating African-Americans and other people of color on
Election Day in November.
Sovereign Citizens and other elements of the right-wing militia movement
have also been involved in numerous lethal attacks [16] on police officers,
firefighters, and other public workers across the United States.
In the aftermath of yesterday's unfortunate events in Des Moines, Fox News
hate talkers such as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly will likely not
sermonize about the violence committed by white members of the American
right-wing against the country's police. Nor will Donald Trump launch into a
tirade about white "thugs" and "bad dudes" who kill cops.
Once again, white racism is shown to be a type of currency in America. Fears
about the bogeyman of "black crime" and how there is a "war on the police"
being waged by groups such as Black Lives Matter wins votes and viewers for
Republican politicians and the right-wing news entertainment media. Telling
the truth about "white crime" is far less profitable because it would force
hard questions about American society and white privilege that far too many
(white) people are intent on avoiding at all costs.
Chauncey DeVega is a politics staff writer for Salon. His essays can also be
found at Chaunceydevega.com [17]. He also hosts a weekly podcast, The
Chauncey DeVega Show [18]. Chauncey can be followed on Twitter [19] and
Facebook [20].
Share on Facebook Share
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________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/human-rights/white-men-war-cops
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/chauncey-devega
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-lie-that-started-the-war-on-cops_us_
57ff9e2ae4b0f42ad3d25c5b
[4]
http://www.timwise.org/2016/07/armed-with-a-loaded-footnote-how-the-right-ra
tionalizes-racial-disparity/
[5]
http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/07/11/sean-hannity-black-lives-matters-on
ly-advancing-narrative-killing-cops/211493
[6]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rush-limbaugh-black-lives-matter_us_577f
d49de4b0344d514f0c95
[7]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/01/09/are-black-or-
white-offenders-more-likely-to-kill-police/
[8]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/02/two-iowa-police-officers-kille
d-ambush-style-attack/93155024/
[9]
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/11/02/2-police-officers-kil
led-ambush-attacks/93155012/
[10]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/des-moines-shooting-scott-m
ichael-greene-suspect-confederate-flag-police-dead-video-a7393616.html
[11] http://crooksandliars.com/2016/11/two-police-officers-killed-des-moines
[12] https://www.odmp.org/search/year?year=2016
[13]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-cops-killed-white-men-conserva
tives-silent-article-1.2632965
[14]
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/02/12/right-wing-extremists-militants-bigger-th
reat-america-isis-jihadists-422743.html
[15]
http://www.salon.com/2016/10/31/crimingwhilewhite-does-pay-ammon-bundy-and-w
eaponized-white-privilege-prevails-again-in-oregon/
[16]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/25/sovereign-citizens-are-amer
ica-s-top-cop-killers.html
[17] http://www.chaunceydevega.com/
[18]
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/p/the-chauncey-devega-show-is-official.html
[19] https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
[20] https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega
[21] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Are White Men Waging
the Real 'War on Cops'?
[22] http://www.alternet.org/
[23] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Are White Men Waging the Real 'War on Cops'?
Are White Men Waging the Real 'War on Cops'?
By Chauncey DeVega [1] / Salon [2]
November 3, 2016
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The Right-wing echo chamber plays the same notes over and over again. One
such talking point is the lie that groups such as Black Lives Matter and
"inner city" residents are waging a "war" on America's police [3].
When the fascist Donald Trump brays about how America's police are under
"siege" [4] and that no one "respects" them anymore he is channeling this
lie.
Fox New's Sean Hannity channels this lie [5] when he says, ".Black Lives
Matter is not the answer. They only make things worse because their
advancing narrative is killing cops."
His compatriot Bill O'Reilly also channels this lie when he says "we have
open season on the cops" and that Black Lives Matter is a "hate group."
When Rush Limbaugh says Black Lives Matter is a "terrorist group" [6],
again, he too is channeling this lie.
This narrative is old. It can trace its roots to the origins of America as a
society where black people were owned as human property and white people
lived in perpetual fear of slave uprisings and rebellions. In the 1960s and
early 1970s, President Richard Nixon mastered it with his pronouncements
about "law and order" and promises to defend the (white) silent majority
against "riots" and "inner city" crime. Nixon's law and order-Southern
Strategy playbook is still being imitated by Republicans and movement
conservatives five decades later.
In all, the image of black and brown people waylaying police, running amok
in America's streets, and being a unique and perpetual threat to law and
order is a white racist fantasy. Black offenders are not more likely to kill
police officers [7] than are white offenders. And in terms of raw numbers,
white offenders actually killed more police than black offenders. A recent
study in the journal Violence and Gender also found that in 2014 white men
constituted 54 percent of those who killed law enforcement agents.
The idea of black and brown people waging a war on the police titillates and
terrorizes White America. And by doing, such fantasies serve the interests
of the elite and the powerful by distracting too many white people from the
real threats they face - economic, social, physical, and political - from
people who look like them as opposed to some type of nebulous black and
brown Other.
To wit: On Wednesday two white police officers, Anthony Beminio and Justin
Martin were shot and killed [8] in an ambush-style attack in the Des Moines,
Iowa metro area.
A suspect, Scott Michael Greene, was arrested Wednesday. Like the victims,
Greene is a white man.
The Des Moines Register provides [9] further details:
Local police are trying to figure out why an Urbandale man allegedly
ambushed two metro police officers in the dead of night, gunning them down
without warning as they sat 2 miles apart in their patrol cars. The deaths
early Wednesday morning shocked the Des Moines and Urbandale police
departments, prompting both to take extra precautions to ensure officers'
safety. Des Moines paired its officers so no one was patrolling alone, Sgt.
Paul Parizek said.Police said it appeared that both officers were taken by
surprise and had no opportunity to defend themselves. Urbandale police Chief
Ross McCarty said it appeared that Greene walked up to Martin's patrol car
and fired 15 to 30 shots into the driver's side of the vehicle. "The
puzzling thing about this is that (Officer Martin) didn't have any idea or
warning or fear that anything was wrong," McCarty said. Martin appeared to
be stopped in his vehicle. "We're assuming (Greene) walked up on foot."
As reported by the Independent, Scott Michael Greene was recently recorded
waving the Confederate flag [10] at a high school sporting event in an
apparent effort to provoke and offend African-Americans sitting nearby.
Police removed him from the venue. Greene also appears to support 2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump [11].
The shooting of Anthony Beminio and Justin Martin, allegedly by Scott
Michael Green, is part of a larger pattern.
Using data from the Officer Down Memorial Page [12], New York Daily News
writer Shaun King has shown that in the first part of 2016 white men
constituted 71 percent of alleged cop killers [13]. This does not include
the recent shootings of white police officers such as Dan Glaze, Darrell
Spells, Joseph Zangaro, and Ronald Kienzle allegedly by white suspects -
incidents which did not receive a large amount of national coverage or cause
a panic among the right-wing news entertainment media.
Moreover, federal law enforcement agencies have identified [14] the
Sovereign Citizens movement and other Right-wing militias as posing a
greater threat to American domestic security than Islamic terrorists [15].
This warning is well-founded: Since 2001, Sovereign Citizens and other
Right-wing "militia" members have killed more Americans than Islamic
terrorists. These organizations are majority white and many of them have
connections to white supremacist and white nationalist organizations. One
such group, the Oath Keepers, says they will be following Donald Trump's
commands by intimidating African-Americans and other people of color on
Election Day in November.
Sovereign Citizens and other elements of the right-wing militia movement
have also been involved in numerous lethal attacks [16] on police officers,
firefighters, and other public workers across the United States.
In the aftermath of yesterday's unfortunate events in Des Moines, Fox News
hate talkers such as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly will likely not
sermonize about the violence committed by white members of the American
right-wing against the country's police. Nor will Donald Trump launch into a
tirade about white "thugs" and "bad dudes" who kill cops.
Once again, white racism is shown to be a type of currency in America. Fears
about the bogeyman of "black crime" and how there is a "war on the police"
being waged by groups such as Black Lives Matter wins votes and viewers for
Republican politicians and the right-wing news entertainment media. Telling
the truth about "white crime" is far less profitable because it would force
hard questions about American society and white privilege that far too many
(white) people are intent on avoiding at all costs.
Chauncey DeVega is a politics staff writer for Salon. His essays can also be
found at Chaunceydevega.com [17]. He also hosts a weekly podcast, The
Chauncey DeVega Show [18]. Chauncey can be followed on Twitter [19] and
Facebook [20].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [21]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[22]
Stay Ahead of the Rest
Sign Up for AlterNet's Daily Newsletter
EMAIL:
+ sign up for additional lists
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/human-rights/white-men-war-cops ;
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/chauncey-devega
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-lie-that-started-the-war-on-cops_us_
57ff9e2ae4b0f42ad3d25c5b
[4]
http://www.timwise.org/2016/07/armed-with-a-loaded-footnote-how-the-right-ra
tionalizes-racial-disparity/
[5]
http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/07/11/sean-hannity-black-lives-matters-on
ly-advancing-narrative-killing-cops/211493
[6]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rush-limbaugh-black-lives-matter_us_577f
d49de4b0344d514f0c95
[7]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/01/09/are-black-or-
white-offenders-more-likely-to-kill-police/
[8]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/02/two-iowa-police-officers-kille
d-ambush-style-attack/93155024/
[9]
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/11/02/2-police-officers-kil
led-ambush-attacks/93155012/
[10]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/des-moines-shooting-scott-m
ichael-greene-suspect-confederate-flag-police-dead-video-a7393616.html
[11] http://crooksandliars.com/2016/11/two-police-officers-killed-des-moines
[12] https://www.odmp.org/search/year?year=2016
[13]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-cops-killed-white-men-conserva
tives-silent-article-1.2632965
[14]
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/02/12/right-wing-extremists-militants-bigger-th
reat-america-isis-jihadists-422743.html
[15]
http://www.salon.com/2016/10/31/crimingwhilewhite-does-pay-ammon-bundy-and-w
eaponized-white-privilege-prevails-again-in-oregon/
[16]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/25/sovereign-citizens-are-amer
ica-s-top-cop-killers.html
[17] http://www.chaunceydevega.com/
[18]
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/p/the-chauncey-devega-show-is-official.html
[19] https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega
[20] https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega
[21] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Are White Men Waging
the Real 'War on Cops'?
[22] http://www.alternet.org/
[23] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
