Perpetual Violence Continues With Dallas Shootings

Downtown Dallas became a site of violence on Thursday night when police were targeted by a shooter at the end of a peaceful protest in the city. The shootings resulted in the deaths of five officers, with seven more injured, and now threaten to become a grim turning point in the movement against racist policing in America.

The demonstrations in Dallas were among many held across the nation in response to the killing of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, in separate incidents over the span of two days. By all accounts, the protest was a peaceful event until around 9 p.m. local time when the shooting began.

Footage posted online by witnesses showed crowds of protesters scattering and police taking cover behind cars as the sound of intense gunfire reverberated through the streets. Before anyone could begin to understand the gravity of the situation, multiple police officers were already down, and more would follow as the situation escalated. By the time it was over, 12 officers had been shot, and five of them had lost their lives.

In a statement delivered to media on Thursday night, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that multiple ‘snipers’ appeared to be coordinating their attacks, firing down upon police from ‘elevated positions’ among the Dallas skyline and managing to evade custody for several hours.

It is now believed that the shootings were carried out by a single, 25-year-old man identified as Micah Johnson, CNN reports. Johnson was killed by police early Friday morning after a protracted standoff in a parking garage. Three more suspects were questioned by police about a possible connection to the attacks, but have since been released.

According to Brown, Johnson told police negotiators that he ‘was upset about the recent police shootings’ and that he ‘stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.’ He also claimed that ‘the end is coming.’

Johnson had previously served in the army and was deployed to Afghanistan. He was killed by police before he could be arrested or questioned, but after searching his home Friday, police found bomb-making materials, weapons, and a journal of combat tactics. Johnson claimed to be unaffiliated with any organization and to have worked alone.

Little else is known about Johnson or his motives for the time being. However, as terrorism expert Malcolm Nance pointed out, the goal of these types of attacks is often to drive a wedge through an already contentious issue, delineating between two perceived sides in an imaginary war that the attackers wish to see realized. They believe that the best way to accomplish this is to turn an otherwise peaceful event into a war zone for everyone to see.

We shouldn’t deny that this was inevitable given the current climate of violence in this country. There has been some tendency to regard the trend as a series of frequent but isolated incidents cycling between police killings and reactionary protests, but a steady pattern of lethal force used against black Americans has long since escalated the situation to a point of no control.

The Washington Post, which maintains a database on police killings beginning in early 2015, reports that fatal shootings by police are up 6% in 2016, with black Americans being killed at 2.5 times the rate of whites. Similarly, a ProPublica study found that black men were twenty-one times more likely to be killed by police than whites between 2010 and 2012.

To make matters worse, a study conducted by Bowling Green State University and reported by FiveThirtyEight shows that most accusations of police misconduct do not result in criminal charges, and when they do, officers are rarely convicted or incarcerated.

These numbers confirm an intuition driving much of the outrage over the killings of Sterling and Castile, which suggests that black Americans are being disproportionately targeted with deadly force, and no one is being held accountable. As such, many people are ready to accept an ‘us versus them’ mentality when it comes to police, a mentality that has increasingly been reflected back on the part of law enforcement.

To be sure, the events Thursday night do not signal a rise in militancy or any sort of organized movement targeting police officers. But in spite of the fact that cop killings are at an all-time low, there has been a growing sentiment among law enforcement over the past few years that there is a ‘war on police’ going on, brought about by increased public scrutiny after the deaths of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. The shootings in Dallas Thursday night threaten to reinforce such sentiment, which could result in reactionary policing based on increased fear, resentment, and aggression.

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh elevated it a step further Thursday night, taking to Twitter to rave about a supposed war going on, even making vague threats toward President Obama and Black Lives Matter in a tweet he later deleted:

Former one-term Congressman Joe Walsh tonight. He later deleted the 'This is now war. Watch out Obama' tweet. pic.twitter.com/Yrg85NgB7a

— Victor Blackwell CNN (@VictorBlackwell) July 8, 2016

In a move clearly meant to exploit this type of racist, alarmist idiocy, The New York Post declared a ‘civil war’ in its cover story Friday:

Friday's cover: 4 cops killed in Dallas tragedy https://t.co/NpUskqqtLt pic.twitter.com/tlqx0P721y

— New York Post (@nypost) July 8, 2016

There is no war going on between police and citizens. ‘War’ is a term often used imaginatively to absolve people of accountability and justify heinous actions, from predatory policing to terrorism, and people like Johnson and Walsh would like for us to buy into the fantasy. If we allow that to happen, then the potential for violence will only increase. As a result of fear and hostility, innocent people will continue to pay for the absurd institution of structural racism in America, and the price charged will be their lives.

This country has found itself in caught in a machine of perpetual violence, armed by a gun culture which demands that everyone remain in a continuous, paranoid standoff with each other. The resulting atmosphere is one of anger, fear and distrust between law enforcement and citizens whom they are meant to protect, readily exploited by well-armed maniacs with a desire to kill indiscriminately.

But the psychotic actions of one individual shouldn’t cause us to lose sight of the underlying issue. Until real reforms are made addressing lack of police accountability, militarization of civilian law enforcement, and embedded racism in policing, the deadly atmosphere of distrust will continue to linger, and more tragedy will follow. These types of reforms are exactly what Black Lives Matter and those who support the movement are trying to achieve, and that will have to continue if we want to avoid more tragedies such as those in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and now Dallas.

The events in Dallas on Thursday night were bad for everyone. They were bad for the officers involved, and the friends and families of those killed. They were bad for the friends and families of Sterling and Castile. They were bad for the protesters, who were demonstrating peacefully for an important cause.

Potentially, they were bad for the people whose names we don’t yet know, waiting to be reduced to hashtags in the coming months, perhaps years, unless this machine is broken.

Suggested Articles: 

Protests Held in Wake of Alton Sterling Shooting

Celebrities Speak Up Following the Murders of Alton Sterling & Philando Castile

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