Alex Jacobs: Nation finally admits problem with policing and race

Right now the police and politicians can openly admit there’s a problem in this country over policing and race. And of all cities for this happen to, Dallas was actually doing something about it. There’s no argument to defend the targeting and killing of any police officers, just as there was nothing to justify the taking of the lives of these black men. The police justify by saying they feared for their lives but they take immediate action to judge, shoot and kill the person they are struggling with or confronting. That is the political fault line and most everyone from both sides is trying to say the proper things.

But why is it “both sides” when there should only be one community and aren’t those charged with protecting it part of the community? Perhaps the “other side” are those who never seem to interact with police as targeted or profiled suspects. Paid-for politicians pass bad laws and the police have to enforce “lawful orders” that may not be moral, ethical or even legal. Funding cutbacks in all areas of social welfare, community protection, education and human services provide the tinder for the fires called poverty and repression.

Just as Dallas Police Chief David Brown and President Obama reiterated, “We ask the police to do too much.” Society, its political representatives and social institutions have failed. Corporate media inflames with headlines like “Civil War” or “The New Race War”, and it must seem like a war since we’ve militarized the police and taught them to fear the local populace as potential enemies, in effect dehumanizing the populace just as screaming protesters dehumanize the police.