In the wake of a sniper shooting that killed five officers and wounded seven more in Texas, San Jose police will work in pairs for their own safety.
Officers normally patrol alone, according to the San Jose Police Department, which announced the staffing change hours after the Friday morning attack that ended a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas. Police agencies throughout the country announced similar precautions.
Chief Eddie Garcia spoke to reporters outside the police station to express support for Dallas law enforcement after the fatal shootout. He also said that several of his own officers fielded anonymous threats after the sniper shooting.
The Dallas attack disbanded a demonstration against the shootings deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. An hours-long standoff between police and a gunman identified as Micah Xavier Johnson ended when officers—in a seemingly unprecedented move—used a robot to deliver and detonate a bomb.
“We are horrified over these events, and that we stand united with the people and the police department as it deals with this tremendous tragedy,” President Obama said on Friday, his second address on fatal shootings in a 24-hour span. “We still don’t know all the facts. What we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated, and despicable attack on law enforcement.”
Obama ordered public agencies to lower flags to half mast in honor of the lives lost. Locally, public officials expressed grief and outrage over the deadly attack on police and the killings of Sterling and Castile.
At 11 Friday morning, all Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority buses and trains stopped for a minute of silence for the fallen officers, particularly for Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson.
Locally, a memorial will take place in solidarity with Dallas at 6:30pm Friday at Bible Way Christian Center, 2090 Oakland Road in San Jose. The Star of David Ministries will host another vigil at 6pm Sunday outside the San Jose City Hall Rotunda.
Chief Garcia took to Twitter to offer condolences to Dallas officers.
GOD BLESS THE PEACEKEEPERS....OUR HEARTS ARE WITH YOU DALLAS!!! pic.twitter.com/9ke5mQzjz2
— Eddie Garcia (@sjpdchief) July 8, 2016
“Amid the horrors of Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and now Dallas, I pray for the mourning families of those tragically killed,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo wrote on Facebook. “Particularly amid this intense anger and pain, we must re-commit to peacefully rebuild trust within each of our communities.”
San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra tweeted a sorrowful message and shared a post from singer John Legend.
48 hours in America. No words. Just tears for now. — Ash Kalra (@Ash_Kalra) July 8, 2016
Being against cops killing is not equal to being for killing cops. We need peace in our streets.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) July 8, 2016
Downtown Councilman Raul Peralez, a former San Jose police officer, posted a quote by Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) tweeted a message this morning focusing on the victims and their families.
very saddened by last night's attack in #Dallas. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families. — Rep. Zoe Lofgren (@RepZoeLofgren) July 8, 2016
In a moving speech Friday, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings urged American leaders to approach the issue of race with care.
“We will not shy away from the very real fact that we as a city, as a state, as a nation are struggling with racial issues,” Rawlings said during a vigil. “They continue to divide us. Yes, it’s that word race, and we’ve got to attack it head on.”
NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said the civil rights organization was founded more than a century ago to fight racialized violence. The battle persists.
“We grieve for Alton Sterling,” he wrote in a statement Friday. “We grieve for Philando Castile. And we grieve with the rest of the country over the senseless loss of lives in Dallas, too—because the execution of police officers does not end the execution of black Americans, and it will not put us on the path to change.”
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom decried the sniper attack as another symptom of gun violence. Texas, like most states in the union, allows people to openly carry long guns, which made it all but impossible to distinguish the sniper before he opened fire.
“In the past 15 hours ... 14 people have died and 38 people have been injured due to gun violence in America (including Dallas),” he wrote on Facebook. “In the past 72 hours ... 99 have died and 220 have been injured. I have nothing else to say tonight except that little boys and little girls are having to grow up way too soon and one big thing standing in the way of these little boys and girls having a chance at a normal childhood is insecure politicians who fear losing the perks of public office more than they fear the idea that a little boy or girl would lose their mother or father.”
Please Join Star of David Ministries for a Community Prayer Vigil for the tragic shootings in Dallas and around the country.
San Jose’s own “The Voice of San Jose,” Angela Borricua Tirado will sing: “Wind Beneath My Wings, and Amazing Grace.”
When: Sunday, July 10, 2016
Time: 6:00pm
Where: San Jose City Hall by the Rotunda
Speakers to be announced
Thanks for sharing, Kathleen! I’ve added that to the story.
Jennifer- Thank you so much! Can you send me your email address? There is another event tonight at 6:30pm. It is at Bible Way Christian Center 2090 Oakland Road San Jose, Ca. 95131. Community Vigil Open Forum.
> “It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.” MLK Jr. #blacklivesmatter #policelivesmatter #lifematters
So, what is your point, Raul?
That Dallas Police Officer were not in favor of justice of justice for all people?
> Raul Peralez . . . . #blacklivesmatter
Really?
http://www.breitbart.com/obama/2015/10/26/fbi-director-slams-black-lives-matter-obama-sentencing-reform/
“FBI Director Slams ‘Black Lives Matter,’ Obama and Sentencing Reform”
“On the 23ed, the FBI director hit the push by progressive Democrats and by progressive Republicans — such as Rep. Paul Ryan — to reduce prison time for supposedly “non-violent” offenders.
He slammed the “Black Lives Movement” which is now trying to reduce policing in crime-ridden black neighborhoods.”
> Raul Peralez
15 hours ago
“It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.” MLK Jr. #blacklivesmatter #policelivesmatter #lifematters
By the way, Raul, all the officers killed in Dallas were white, and the killers explicitly targeted them because the were white.
You might want to add this to your tweet:
#whitelivesmatter
you may want to check your facts about the race concerning the murdered officers.
> you may want to check your facts about the race concerning the murdered officers.
TOBY1981:
I’m sure you’re trying to say something really, really smart and clever which will completely debunk everything I’ve ever said. But I have no idea what it is.
So, lay it on us. We’re all anxious to discover the hidden nugget we missed but you didn’t miss which will prove that the killer was not really trying to kill white cops.
#whitelivesmatter?
Meh. Not so much. Eh Toby?
“So, lay it on us.” Who are us? Officer Patrick Zamarripa, was not “white”. He was of another decent and a great veteran and police officer. I could argue with you all day, but he was a hero and left a family behind.
This individual ( killer) had every intention to kill police officers in uniform regardless of race. Regardless what he allegedly said.
” We’re all anxious”, tell me more about “We’re” (who are you and them). Who besides yourself? And about your hate for Councilman Peralez? Is it because is was an ex SJPD! Why do you have so much hatred for him?
Hard to move on and try to resolve issues when we have individuals like you hiding behind posts.
You are a coward, tell us who “us” is so I can respond. God Bless all Law Enforcement Personnel.
> Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Johnson told officers he was upset about recent shootings involving police and “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dallas-Police-Identify-Gunman-in-Dallas-Protest-Shootings-386015971.html
Curiously, Daphne Morales and Melissa Hartman’s article mentions NOTHING about the killers targeting white police officers.
Just an innocent oversight, I suppose.
It’s probably the reason that Raul Peralez DIDN’T include #whitelivesmatter in his tweet.
All human life is of equal value until such time as one life initiates malicious violence against another’s life. At that point, the malicious life becomes just that much less valuable and in order to preserve that which is of greater value, the innocent life then has a legal justification and a moral obligation to kill the malicious individual, even if it means ultimately having to administer a coup de grace in order to prevent recidivism and deter potential “copycats”. There is nothing wrong with shooting people as long as the right people get shot and the term killer has a negative societal connotation that it may not always deserve. Killing a vicious, criminal in the act of committing unjustifiable and malevolent homicide is a public service that should be encouraged, not maligned.
I now anticipate a shrill response and pants-wetting from the grass-eaters who inevitably will shriek that one should not be “judge, jury and executioner!” What a ridiculous notion. A criminal committing or attempting to commit criminal homicide is convicted by his own actions, the evidence is his immediate behavior, and the victim administered death penalty, otherwise referred to as self-defense, has been an acceptable practice and moral obligation since humans walked the Earth and obviously we need it now more than ever.
As to Cal LG Gavin Newsom’s pooping himself over Texans, and any others, openly carrying guns, may I refer you to another Texas sniper incident, that of Charles Whitman? In that case, a civilian, Allen Crum, armed with a (civilian!) rifle (oh my god, was it an assault weapon? I may puddle myself!), assisted police officers in neutralizing Whitman as Whitman was continuing to fire from the Tower from where he had shot 49 people, killing 16 of them. Currently, some in the media fearfully speak of armed Texans? Where is that blue collar guy in the pick-up truck, with the deer rifle in the gun rack, when we need him? He’s probably out there with a Bible, terrifying a firearm-phobic vegetarian.
As to some of the recent controversial police involved shootings, I will reserve judgment until it can be determined whether it was maliciousness, or simply human error and/or inadequate training, that were the causes. In the meantime, due to the race of the suspect in the recent Dallas shooting (Black), his admitted racial motivation, and the race of the officers (White), I will be hopping aboard the Freedom train with others of my racially compatible savage horde and heading to Ferguson, Philadelphia and south Central L.A. for the type of festivities (which, of course I do not advocate) that others seem to enjoy in the wake of any race related (real or imagined) incident. What? No party? Why not?
Several decades ago an invitation of sorts was communicated to the desperate people of Mexico, inviting them to cross into the U.S. and find work. The invite was illegal, but that mattered not at all to the media, elected officials, and government agencies creating the necessary atmosphere by (in order) calls for compassion, muddling the legal aspects, disregarding the rights of the lawful, demonizing objectors, and, finally, declaring amnesty as the only solution.
This strategy of circumventing the law, tradition, and common sense by the duplicitous creation of “facts on the ground” is nothing new (it has always been Israel’s go-to move), and it is now powering the gigantic fraud known as “Black Lives Matter.”
Why, it should be asked, are newspeople, politicians, and government officials so compassionate about, and outraged over, the fate of people the hard facts suggest are deserving of neither? Why the exaggerated assumptions and rush to judgment? Why the disregard for due process? Why the demonization/ruination of officers without regard for actual wrongdoing? And why the desire to create, as the facts on the ground, the absolute falsehood that America’s police are out to indiscriminately kill innocent people?
Why are these people using their influence to incite destructive conduct? What happened in Dallas would not have happened without the efforts of inflammatory reporting, big mouth politicians, and a reactionary, biased justice department.
These facts on the ground, now embraced by the lowlifes in the ‘hood as well as those in high office and on editorial boards, will lead to only two possible outcomes: the first, the police refuse to take appropriate action (as in SF two days ago when a piece of human garbage paralyzed the PD and a business district for hours); the second, that every stop, from your kindly grandmother to your corner drug dealer, will be conducted identically, using tactics that minimize human respect and maximize rule compliance (the TSA treatment). In either case, cities will be at a loss as to how to provide effective police services and how to keep their citizens from taking matters into their own hands.
Black lives do matter. I believe that.
I believe black lives matter exactly as much as white lives matter to them. No more, no less.
That’s fair, no?
President Obama campaigned as a racial healer. He could have been extremely effective at that, if he had followed through with his promise.
He lied. Instead of being a healer, President Obama has constantly incited racial animosity and hatred. This violence is the result of his racist politics, and it won’t be the last. These murders fit Obama’s unspoken agenda perfectly, with multiple white officers killed; shot in the back with an ordinary rifle routinely mis-characterized as an “assault weapon”. And just as night follows day, Obama blames the gun, instead of the criminal pulling the trigger.
President Obama’s crocodile tears are only for public consumption. Privately, he’s thrilled, as we see in his big grins immediately following the murders of white police officers:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3681457/Republicans-slam-grinning-Obama-politicizing-Dallas-police-massacre-laughs-way-NATO-summit.html
Following the same script, H.R. Clinton flagrantly pandered by blaming white people for these murders for not ‘changing their ways’. White folks are to blame for this, see? Despicable.
Much of the blame for this violence must be laid at the feet of President Obama. He could have been a true racial healer. Instead, he constantly and deliberately incites racial tribalism. This is the result. No doubt he was very tempted to say, “If I had a son…”
Obama may have some credulous folks fooled. But not the ones who disregard his words, and observe what he is constantly communicating with his dog whistle signaling. Micah X picked that up loud and clear. And he isn’t the only one, not by a long shot.
King Barry only excels at lying. No surprise. Move on.
Obama is not to blame .U are the one to blame .Your hatred flows fro the words u speak blinded by your white sense of superiority . The people that have u fooled are white people .i know i am white and was once fooled
We need to eliminate the gun mentality of this country. Guns have become “the answer” for anything and everything that doesn’t fit the mold. Cops killing typically non-whites. White guys shooting up targets and oftentimes each other or collections of non-whites. Most of the Western world Europeans nations have extremely tough gun controls, including their fuzz and killings are WAY lower than in the US. We have a killing rate in the general area of the typically hated Middle Eastern nations.
Republicans would rather watch their children lie dead in the street than change their ambiguously worded 250 year old document. It’s time to stop this, and I’m looking your direction, Obama.
Yes, you have done a great job in office. RECORD unemployment numbers, legalized gay marriage, 5% growth, best year for jobs since 1999, consumer confidence up, deficit down 60% in 2014, gas prices low, health insurance cheaper than ever ($85/month), car insurance cheaper than ever ($25/month from Insurance Panda), the 1% starting to be taxed more…
BUT, your gun control actions have been insufficient. Your recent gun control measures were a good start, but it’s time for a broader executive action. God bless you, Mr. President.
I cannot believe there are so many people in this country, some naïve, many just plain stupid despite being highly educated, who believe that passing yet another set of gun control laws will make us all safer. No matter how many laws are passed, the criminals will still obtain guns, and the rest of us will be unarmed lambs to the slaughter. Guns are NOT the problem. Certain people who wield them are the problem. Our Founding Fathers were acutely aware of the fact that an unarmed citizenry will easily fall prey to a malicious government. Do you think it can’t happen here? Think again. The same crowd that brought participation trophies to youth sports is paving the way. I am seriously considering buying a handgun and a shotgun before it’s too late.
Ms. Bertie, your comments reflect an ignorance of American history, Constitutional law, and facts of that is exceptionally sad and yet typical of those who advocate for gun control as a means of increasing public safety.
Firstly, the meaning and intent of the 2nd Amendment is clear. And, for those to whom the specific text “the right of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL not be infringed.” is unclear (emphasis added), there is a whole raft of original scholarly work produced by the framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights which makes clear what they intended and why when the 2nd Amendment was written and included in the Bill of Rights. I encourage you to take the time to remedy your ignorance so that you do not make comments which are ludicrous and easily disprovable. If you are, as I suspect, simply to lazy to avail yourself of the opportunity to learn American history and the facts, let me summarize: The Founders and Framers held that the right to defend oneself from oppression a right ‘endowed by our Creator’, a part of ‘God’s Law’, or, alternatively, ‘Natural Law’, depending on the author in question. They believed that oppressors could be tyrants or criminals and that the 2nd Amendment was an integral part of the individual’s ability to enjoy life, liberty and to pursue happiness.
Secondly, the comparisons of murder rates between the US and a cherry-picked list of nations is also misleading. I won’t go into all the reasons here, preferring instead to reference these interesting and enlightening articles:
https://mises.org/blog/mistake-only-comparing-us-murder-rates-developed-countries
and:
http://crimeresearch.org/2014/03/comparing-murder-rates-across-countries/.
I will also add that there are certain cities and regions in the US which produce a lion’s share of murders, and that these cities tend to be dominated by liberal politics and many suffer the most draconian gun control laws, either at the state or local level.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/top-lists/highest-murder-rate-cities/
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/01/28/396750.htm
http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/the-10-most-dangerous-cities-in-america/ss-AAfDo9R#image=4
Also, it is worth noting this: “Since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million, and murder rates have fallen from 5.6 killings per 100,000 people to just 4.2, about a 25 percent drop, according to the report from the Crime Prevention Research Center.”
from here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/14/murder-rates-drop-as-concealed-carry-permits-soar-/
but that we may be seeing a spike in violent crime in many cities because of changes in political climate and policy and practices, like the Ferguson Effect:
http://time.com/4329688/murder-rate-u-s-cities-increase-2016/.
Lastly, you will notice that many of these most dangerous cities have majority minority population figures, cities like Camden, NJ; Detroit, MI, and others.
As a closing remark I would like to ask of Ms. Bertie and other gun control advocates this question: We have scores of laws on the books making illegal things like murder, assaults with deadly weapons and so forth. And criminals routinely use illegal means to obtain the firearms they use to commit these crimes violating all manner of laws and regulations with respect to the purchase and use of firearms. Why do you assume that criminals will have any greater respect for new, more restrictive gun control laws than they do for the laws they violate when they rape, rob assault or murder? Where is the logic in that?
I wanted to give you a heads up. I just received a call from the San Jose Police Department. They wanted to let us know that either Anti-Police Violence Protesters, or someone telling folks we are having a vigil protesting Police violence is going to be at City Hall at 6:00pm, Sunday, 7-10-16.
Please keep in mind that this community vigil is NOT an anti Police violence vigil. This is a prayer vigil being held and sponsored by Star of David Ministries for the sole purpose of praying for ALL victims and families of homicide, and will be asking for PEACE in our community.
PLEASE be sure you let your contacts know that this is NOT an Anti Police Violence vigil, so that people know the true purpose of the vigil.
Thank you!
You seem to be in the know who is your contact at SJPD, I would like to contact the person to get more information.
Thanks.
— We need to eliminate the gun mentality of this country. Guns have become “the answer” for anything and everything that doesn’t fit the mold. Cops killing typically non-whites. White guys shooting up targets and oftentimes each other or collections of non-whites. — Thelma Bertie
There are few messages progressives have made clearer to white male Americans than the importance of being armed — to the teeth. The message of Ferguson was received: facts don’t matter, only white skin. The example made of George Zimmerman was understood: facts don’t matter, only fabricated whiteness. The case in Cambridge informed: even the president of the United States won’t acknowledge the right of a white cop to do his job.
If you’re a white male and your life or the safety of your family is endangered by a person of color — especially a black person, you can opt to be a lamb or choose to be a man, but if you choose the latter you can be sure the US Justice Department will either find or fabricate the hate in your heart and ruin your life.
At this very moment, your right to freely drive yourself or your family on public roads depends on the whims of self-righteous, hateful, and dangerous mobs of so-called protesters. They will stop you dead in your tracks, surround your car, and should they decide to savagely beat you as was done to Reginald Denny, or merely ravage your car because they don’t like the looks of you, that’s their decision to make.
Anarchy has become a regular feature of city life, it has been condoned by our cowardly leaders and that racist in the White House has made civil war a regular topic of conversation.
Another update- I received a second call from SJPD. Apparently, a group of Anti-Police Violence protesters will be at San Jose City Hall at 5:00pm Sunday, tomorrow. The PD will not be present at City Hall but will be paroling the area so that they don’t escalate the protesters into any problems. We can call the SJPD if there is a problem.
My hope is that they will be gone by 6:00pm. If not, Pastor Lara and I will see if they are willing to join our vigil in the name of peace.
Having said that, I feel duty bound to ask you to tell parents who might be bringing their children about the protesters, so that they can decide whether or not to leave them home. I of course would prefer that they leave their children home, but it is the parents call.
Wow, you are in the the know! I have a few friends inside SJPD, please tell me yours so we can connect.! We can share a lot of information. /don’t be like “we…. us” the idiot SJoutsidethebubble
toby1981- I organized, facilitated, and Emceed the entire event, that’s why “I’m in the know”. This is just one of many vigils that I have done. Last year, I put together Officer Michael Johnson’s vigil as well.
Thank you for you community service, God Bless!
Other 1st world countries look at the USA with bemusement that another developed nation is unable to perceive the elephant in their room.
Sam Liccardo mourns Alton Sterling. He mourns a convicted sex offender who chose to fight with the police and, during the course of the fight, attempted to pull a gun (which he was possessing illegally) from his pocket. He chooses to include Sterling in the same comment with his supposed sympathy for the families of the Dallas police officers, who were murdered while attempting to enable others to freely and safely express their Freedom of Speech. Liccardo, like so many other politicians, is a big part of the problem. By refusing to either see or speak the truth, these politicians, led by the President of the United States, are doing their best to make police officers targets.
> Liccardo, like so many other politicians, is a big part of the problem.
Liccardo STILL blames Donald Trump for the June anti-Trump riots and violent assaults on SAN JOSE CITIZENS.
Paraphrasing Liccardo’s remarks at the City Council meeting which recapped the events: “We were aware that there had been violence associated with Trump rallies in other cities”.
Translation: “Trump brought the violence to San Jose”.
I would like to thank Pastors Linda and Sonny Lara of Star of David Ministries for sponsoring today’s 6:00pm Community Prayer Vigil at San Jose City Hall!
I would like to thank the following for agreeing to speak at Sunday night’s Community Vigil:
Pastor’s Linda and Sonny Lara
Assembly Member Kansen Chu
Council Member Raul Peralez
Deputy Sheriffs’ Association President Don Morrissey
Deputy Sheriffs’ Association Vice President Roger Winslow
Pastor Nathaniel Riley of the Pilgrim Church of God in Christ
Deacon Ciapha Richelieu Anthony Cooper of the Pilgrim Church of God in Christ
Milan Balinton CEO of the African American Community Service Center
I would also like to thank Robert Lopez, founder of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 52 for agreeing to come and represent their organization, and San Jose’s own “The Voice of San Jose,” Angela Borricua Tirado who will sing: “Wind Beneath My Wings, and Amazing Grace.”
THANK YOU for bringing our community together in the name of PEACE!
—“The Voice of San Jose,” Angela Borricua Tirado who will sing: “Wind Beneath My Wings”—
…and in honor of the politically flaccid Sam Liccardo-s of the world and all race-baiters everywhere who, unlike Kathleen (a genuinely decent person) seek to divide us rather than unite us, I will sing… Sam… “You are the Wind Between My Cheeks”
LMAO, Mr. Robillard
http://www.ktvu.com/news/172740369-story.
Funny how the press didn’t mention that the Black Lives Matter protesters staged a “die in” screamed and yelled, and some of them set a few fires, and tried to close down the freeway! Or how a few of them came over to our vigil and tried to start fights with our group, or how when we sang and prayed for fallen Officers, and for our country, they yelled louder trying to drown us out. It didn’t work because we refused to participate in their mess. Our prayer vigil was AWESOME! We had well over a hundred people show up! Twice that of Black Lives Matter. It was BEAUTIFUL despite the noise from Black Lives Matter, and Police helicopters flying overhead. Love always wins over hate!
A big THANK YOU to Roger Winslow Vice President of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association for showing courage and strong leadership by meeting with Pastors of the African American Community, and for speaking out on behalf of law enforcement and for sharing their pain with the community at tonight’s prayer vigil.
Thank you to deceased SJPD Officer Johnson’s mother, Mrs. Decker, for speaking out about how the families of these Officers feel when they’ve been murdered. The crowd applauded her and thanked her for her son’s sacrifice and for his service. She is a class act!
Yes, Kathleen, it’s funny about that. The local Media refused to say anything that might paint the BLM racists in a bad light. The Merc probably couldn’t figure out how to tie Republicans in to the fights and shouting directed at your group’s vigil (and IANAR).
When more than fifty organized rabble-rousers show up and disrupt a vigil for murdered police officers, and with police helicopters observing the confrontation — there’s not a peep from the press. Can you imagine the breathless reporting on TV and in the newspaper if Trump supporters showed up and started fights? Isn’t it crystal clear that the public’s thinking is being ‘guided’ in a certain direction?
You say “love always wins over hate,” but you left out a corollary: censorship always wins over democracy. Deliberately keeping the population ignorant of the BLM disruption of your vigil does nothing but PROTECT the same group that was largely responsible for inciting the murders of police officers.
Thanks at least for posting that news here in SJI. I guess scooping the Mercury-News is easy peasy when the BLM’s enablers are too politically correct to report news like that.
People can come to the correct conclusions and make the right decisions if they’re given the whole story. But in this case important information was deliberately withheld. How many more cases of this kind of selective reporting are there? I would not have known about the fights and shouting instigated by the BLM haters if I hadn’t read it here.
When the local newspaper — just like most of the media across the country — makes editorial decisions intended to show the public only what they want the public to see, that is paid propaganda in support of a political agenda. What you described was certainly news. But for reasons that are pretty clear, the media did not want that particular news to be made public. So it was censored out of the public’s awareness.
If the Mercury-News was honest, they would post a disclaimer on their masthead telling readers they are being spoon-fed carefully selected, one-sided ‘news’ designed to march them in lock-step in the direction the media wants them to go.
Smokey- ALL of the news media that showed up focused MORE on the BLM group than our prayer vigil. If the Merc was there, they didn’t speak to our group. I guess we were too boring with our praying and singing. They did a few interviews with our speakers, but spent 90% of their time with BLM. Having said that, you raise an EXCELLENT point. The media picks and chooses what they will and will not report. They only care about inciting people, pitting us against one another, and PROFIT! That is why researching media reports is VITAL!
One other very important point I would like to make is this, Dr. King and his protesters dressed in respectable clothing, sang, prayed, were inclusive, worked with electeds, helped change laws, organized marches, and were respectful of others, peaceful, were collaborative, and practiced peaceful resistance. When they were arrested, they did not spit on Officers, throw things at them, or incite them in any way. They did not wear scarves over their faces, or wear clothing with hate statements on them, nor did they carry signs that carried hate speech on them. People need to start taking responsibility for their actions and stop blaming the Police and others for their problems. The media has not nor do they ever report the truth, so that we truly understand all sides. One of the men BLM groups are protesting over that was killed was a child molester. He also had a loaded gun in his jacket, and was resisting arrest. But the media shows a crying mother, photos of him that depict him as an angel. We need to look at the individual Officer, situation, and INDIVIDUAL, and NOT just race! Does racism exists? YES! Are there bad Cops? YES! Are citizens always innocent and perfect? HELL NO! So let’s keep it real, shall we.
Whenever a black man is killed by a white cop, the lead to the story by all media outlets is always that a black man has been killed by a white cop. The color of the shooter and shootee is mentioned frequently throughout the story. But when fifteen people, most, if not all, white, are shot by a black man, the lead does not start out with the color of the shooter and shootees, and the shooter’s color is mentioned far less frequently in the story. Only the black police chief of Dallas makes it clear that the shooter was black and the motive was racial hatred. There is rarely if ever a mention that 7,000 black men are killed by other black men annually in the USA. When a white cop kills a black man, there are protests and riots by black people nationwide. Were there any white riots after the racially motivated slaughter in Dallas? Nope. It seems that only black people riot. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be because there is rarely an adverse consequence to the black rioters; who, like ill-behaved children, just keep doing it?