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Opinion Viewpoint

Crossing the Line Between Black and Blue

Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. Both statements must be made true if the heartbreaking loss of life in Dallas is to have any meaning.

The killing spree that left five police officers dead and seven others wounded should be classified as an act of domestic terrorism. The shooter, identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, apparently believed he was committing an act of political violence.

Eugene Robinson

Our duty, to honor the fallen, is to ensure that Johnson’s vile and cowardly act has the opposite impact from what he sought. Johnson, who was captured on video shooting one officer in the back, was killed when police, who had tried unsuccessfully to negotiate his surrender, sent a robot his way bearing an explosive device.

Enough about him, except this one thing: He said he was motivated by hatred over the deaths of two more black men — Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota — at the hands of police. The slain police officers were protecting a lawful, peaceful demonstration to protest those same deaths. As the crowd, perhaps more than 800 strong, marched through downtown Dallas, there was anger but no real tension. Certainly there was no sense of danger; police were not wearing riot gear or riding in armored vehicles. Instead, officers chatted and took selfies with the demonstrators. They had no fear of encounter and dialogue.

The great irony is that Dallas is something of a model. Mayor Mike Rawlings was right when he told reporters that Dallas is “one of the premier community policing cities in the country.” Since Police Chief David O. Brown took over in 2010, complaints of excessive force by officers have dropped by nearly two-thirds. Police shootings have been halved, from 23 in 2012 to just 11 in 2015 — and only one so far this year, according to Police Department data.

Brown happens to be African-American, but that’s not the most significant thing about him. What’s important is that Brown was quick to understand that the chasm between police officers and young men of color was real — and that it could be bridged. His officers undergo training in how to de-escalate conflicts rather than heat them up; they learn to speak calmly when approaching suspects instead of immediately barking orders. When there is a police shooting, uniformed presence around the scene is ramped down as soon as possible.

The department, unlike many others, keeps track of police shootings and publishes the figures on the city’s website. And Brown keeps looking for new ways to improve relations between police and the community, realizing that diversity is not a destination but a shared journey.

The Dallas Police Department is not perfect, of course, but its efforts to improve the way officers interact with citizens stand in contrast to the appalling police work we saw in the cellphone videos recording the deaths that prompted protests around the country. Sterling was on the ground in front of a convenience store, restrained by officers and posing no apparent threat, when he was shot to death. Castile, pulled over in a traffic stop, was apparently reaching for his identification to hand to the officer who shot him.

The video of Castile’s final moments was streamed on the internet by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds. In her narration, she says Castile informed the officer that he was licensed to carry a firearm. It is no stretch to imagine that to the officer, this meant Castile was an armed and dangerous black man. Which leads me to a question I shouldn’t have to ask: Does the Second Amendment apply to African Americans too?

But the solution is not more guns. The solution is to end the undervaluing of lives, both black and blue. Poor, troubled, crime-ridden communities are those that most want and need effective policing. But the paradigm cannot be us versus them. It has to be us with us — a relationship of mutual respect. I hope police officers around the nation see how rapidly and completely the people of Dallas — including those in the Black Lives Matter movement — have rallied around their city’s bereaved police department. I hope they understand that compassion for Sterling, Castile, and others killed by police in no way mitigates the nation’s profound sorrow for the brave officers killed in Dallas. Such tragedy is beyond color.

Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post Writers Group.

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News News Blog

Memphis Branding Agency Behind “Blue Lives Matter” Billboard Message

Two “Blue Lives Matter” billboards went up in Memphis in September — one at I-240 and I-40 and another at Getwell and I-240 — and now the boards are popping up in cities across the country.

“The last numbers that I’ve heard is that there were 300 boards up around the country in at least 20 states and 30 metro markets,” said Trace Hallowell, the creative director for Tactical Magic, the Memphis-based branding agency behind the message.

It all started last spring when an anonymous person contacted Tactical Magic asking if they could create a pro-police message. Hallowell said they worked on the campaign pro bono and came up with two billboard messages — “Memphis Honors the Blues” and “Memphis Heroes Wear Blue.” The anonymous person managed to get Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising to put the message on two billboards in Memphis.

“Over the summer, I became quite provoked by a string of incidents where law enforcement people were singled out for assassination apparently just because of their uniforms. I’m distressed over law enforcement abuses, too. But as a human rights issue, it bothered me terribly,” Hallowell said. “And there are certain sectors of society that were celebrating that. I thought, we need to have a message out there to just affirm the humanity of the men and women who wear uniforms. So I called [the anonymous person] up and said, how about we extend the campaign with this topical message of ‘Blue Lives Matter’?”

The person agreed, and the message went up on billboards here last month. And then, Lamar Advertising began putting the message up in other markets, including Toledo, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Hartford, Connecticut.

The billboards feature a hashtag — #thankublu — at the bottom of the board, and it’s generated both positive and negative responses on Twitter. Some supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement have spoken out against Blue Lives Matter or All Lives Matter messaging, claiming those phrases diminish the original intention of the “Black Lives Matter” message, which came about after a string of incidents involving white officers killing unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri; New York City; Cleveland, Ohio; and other cities.

One recent tweet from Stephen Matlock (@stephenmatlock) reads: “As long as police officers can get away with murdering children like #TamirRice, I’m not inclined to say #thankublu.” Another from Clayton Seager (@ClaytonSeager) reads: “#thankublu is so disrespectful towards #BlackLivesMatter I’m disappointed in this country.”

But some of the tweets are positive, and Hallowell says he’s gotten more encouraging feedback than negative feedback.

“This isn’t a competing entity [with Black Lives Matter]. It’s just a message meant to contribute to the cultural conversation in a moment in time when it seemed to be called for. Some people have posted some pretty hateful things, but most of it has been touching and positive,” Hallowell said. “At least 99 percent of our response so far has been really positive, so focusing on the negative might be misleading. Some people have said, ‘This meant a lot to me. I went through a bad shift today. I had to arrive on a scene with a dead infant, and I was feeling terrible, and on the way back, I saw this for the first time.'” 

Memphis has seen its own share of police killings lately. On August 1st, Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton was shot eight times while conducting a traffic stop near Cottonwood and Perkins in Parkway Village. 

Tremaine Wilbourn, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Bolton, who was 33. Wilbourn was a passenger in a car that was stopped on the side of the road when Bolton pulled over to check on the car. Police believe Bolton may have interrupted a drug transaction. A struggle ensued between Bolton and Wilborn, and Bolton was shot multiple times. Police searched the vehicle Wilbourn was riding in later and found almost two grams of pot. 

On October 4th, Memphis Police Officer Terence Oldridge was shot and killed in his driveway in Cordova. His neighbor Lorenzo Clark was arrested for being a felon in possession of a handgun in connection with the shooting. But Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong has said they don’t yet have enough evidence to charge Clark with murder since they haven’t determined who shot first. Oldridge’s weapon had apparently also been fired.

Memphis has also had a recent case of a white officer killing an unarmed black teen. On July 17th, Darrius Stewart was shot and killed by Memphis Police Officer Conor Schilling after the car Stewart was a passenger in was pulled over for having a headlight out. Stewart was placed in the back of a squad car after the traffic stop while Schilling checked for warrants. The police account of what happened says that, when Schilling opened the squad car to handcuff Stewart, the man kicked the door and tried to attack the officer. Shortly after the warrant check, police reported that Stewart had been shot and an ambulance was called for. Stewart later died at the Regional Medical Center. 

District Attorney Amy Weirich has received the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s report on the incident, but she has yet to make a decision as to whether or not Schilling will be charged with homicide.