As the nation continues to watch news reports of riots and protests attributed to members of the Black Lives Matter movement and allegedly performed in response to police shootings that BLM claims are motivated by race, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has now jumped into the fray. A spokesman for the Charlotte-Mecklenberg branch of the NAACP in a released statement claimed that the race of the officer involved in the shooting no longer matters.
In a new report by Charlotte’s WCNC TV, closely following the events as they unfold after the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a spokesman for the Charlotte-Mecklenberg branch of the NAACP insisted that the race of the officer doesn’t count because black officers “give up their blackness” when they become police officers; when they put on the blue uniform.
“Many black people who become police officers become blue, not black,” the organization told the station. “In order for you to survive in a police department, you take on the police department’s ideology, ways of life, and culture.”
The implication of that statement is twofold: first, that black police officers ignore their own background, heritage and culture once they put on a police uniform. How insulting. That individuals who take on one of the toughest and most thankless jobs in the country today could be so soft of will that they bury their own values and beliefs to assume those of the agency that hires them is an insult to those doing so. Further, the implication that every law enforcement agency coast-to-coast embraces a racist outlook and uses such as motivation for performance is appalling. Following that logic, then every officer who is forced to shoot any criminal is motivated by the race of the criminal to do so.
As the investigation continues into the shooting of Keith L. Scott in Charlotte, evidence mounts that he was indeed armed, failed to obey lawful orders to drop that weapon, had a long violent criminal history and did present an immediate threat to the officers on the scene. That evidence doesn’t seem to matter to those who seek an excuse… any excuse to complain about and protest against how law enforcement professionals respond to such.
As has been reported, representatives of Black Lives Matter, and now apparently also a part of the NAACP, have said that the justification or lack thereof in the shooting of any black man no longer matters. They now claim that the shooting of any black man for any reason, even if it’s fully legal and justified and required to save the lives of others, is racist. They’ve also now specified that it doesn’t matter what the race of the officer who pulls the trigger is.
In today’s day and age, in a society being torn apart by the constant sensationalization of completely justified law enforcement uses of force, the last thing we need is for a national organization to promote further criminal activity by justifying it in such an insulting manner. The Charlotte-Mecklenberg branch of the NAACP owes every police officer in the nation an apology.
------------
Editor's Note: After originally publishing this op-ed that didn't specifically identify the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Branch of the NAACP as responsible, and incorrectly identified the NAACP in general as responsible, I was contacted directly by the Communications office of the national organization requesting the correction. I am GLAD to make it and hope that this outlook on the part of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg branch doesn't reflect the feelings or outlook of the NAACP as a whole.
