Police departments all over the country have put themselves on high alert, talking about safety concerns and how they can handle things differently… Many of these departments will be sending officers to NY for the funerals of the two were ambushed…
Its important that folks look back at how police departments publicly responded in the aftermath of two ambushes that took place in June of this year (2014).. The most notable one involves convicted felon Jerad Miller and his wife Amanda who hung out at Cliven Bundy ranch in Nevada where several dozen angry folks who were protesting the government’s attempt to evict Bundy from the federal grounds he had leased but did not pay rent for.. The protestors had an armed stand off with over 200 police officers who attempted to move Bundy. The Millers were hoping the Bundy Ranch would be the jump off for armed rebellions against police.
The Miller couple felt that Bundy’s people weren’t radical enough. They described the police as oppressors and upon leaving the ranch, they went out to set off a revolution. The pair had long talked about wanting to kill cops. Armed with body armor and packed to the hilt, the pair ambushed two Las Vegas Metro cops who were eating lunch in a diner.
After they killed the cops Jerad Miller shot off several rounds in the air and loudly declared the revolution was on..They also draped a Gadsden flag on one of the officer’s bodies. The Revolutionary War flag and its slogan, “Don’t Tread on Me,” was adopted by the Tea Party movement. The couple later engaged in a 15 minute shoot out with police in which they died.
In the aftermath of the Miller cop killings, there were no police union reps like Patrick Lynch making public assertions even within police oriented publications, that lambasted the Tea Party Movement, the Open Carry Movement or even the movement around Cliven Bundy…There was no public accusation about any of these movements having blood on their hands. You can check for yourself here’s a link.. http://bit.ly/13wsI18
What’s even more interesting is if you look at the comment section you see fellow law enforcement folks decrying rogue officers who they said mishandled the Bundy ranch situation by killing two of his prized cattle.
Its important to have this information especially as we see skittish politicians now rushing to get in line and back up the hateful, threatening rhetoric of police union reps like Lynch. To my knowledge there has been no armed stand offs with police and folks protesting the killings of unarmed Black folks like Mike Brown, Eric Garner or Tamir Rice. There have been no attempts to push the envelop by exercising the right to open carry laws within these protests. Yet we have police departments on tactical alert all over the country and from what I could tell relative calm even after militia folks took them out..
We also don’t see apologies of any sort directed toward the police from Tea Party and Open Carry folks and anti-government movements who the miller associated themselves with…
Pay close attention to journalists and media outlets who are framing the story in such a way that the police accountability movement is somehow at fault. Get their names, make note of how they talk about things and hold them accountable the same way we are pushing to hold police accountable. Also note moving forward, folks will have to end their dependency on corporate media which has made it clear who they are gonna be mouthpieces for..
In the meantime shoutout to the good #blacklivesmatter folks in Minneapolis who shut down the Great mall of America. Shout out to folks like Sellassie Blackwell who held police accountability rallies in SF and the folks who came out to support Justice for Alex Nieto all in the aftermath of the slayings in NY.. In short folks have not and should not stop demanding justice..If there have been any other actions or upcoming actions feel free to share….