Eight police officers have been gunned down by assailants so far this year — six of them in just the past week — and law enforcement officials have been blasting the Obama White House for stoking the anti-cop fervor in black communities.
“I cannot recall any time in recent years when six law enforcement professionals have been murdered by gunfire in multiple incidents in a single week,” National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund CEO Craig W. Floyd said in a statement Friday. “Already this year there have been eight officers shot and killed, compared to just one during the same period last year and represents a very troubling trend.”
President Obama has yet to say a word about the recent uptick in cop killings around the country, but the White House did find time to tweet congratulations to hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar Monday night for winning the “best rap album” Grammy for an album that has a message against police brutality.
Shoutout to @KendrickLamar and all the artists at the #Grammys working to build a brighter future. #MyBrothersKeeper https://t.co/XM0KwV3jNB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 16, 2016
Obama’s deafening silence on the police killings, meanwhile, has led one Maryland sheriff to share his disappointment in a viral Facebook post.
“Mr. President, your silence about these events SPEAKS VOLUMES!!!! PS: I’ll be standing outside in the cold next week with my deputies for the funerals of the Harford Co deputies; I’ll save you a spot next to me!” Facebooked Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees.
His post, blasted throughout law enforcement social media and highlighted by the National Sheriffs’ Association, has become part of the rallying cry among cops that the president is ignoring attacks on them, and even fostering anti-police feelings.
The Fraternal Order of Police even called on Obama to expand hate-crime laws to those targeting police. In a letter also posted on Facebook, FOP President Chuck Canterbury wrote, “Mr. President, that is eight officers–six in less than a week–who have been gunned down by assailants striking from ambush or career criminals with active warrants who decided they would not be taken into custody, no matter the cost. Enough is enough! This must end.”
DeWees made public the belief among many in law enforcement that the president is only concerned about violence when somebody is shot by a police officer.
His Facebook posting came after two nearby Harford County deputies were gunned down.
“I understand that you are a busy man and are being pulled in multiple directions every day of the week,” wrote DeWees. “But, when my president doesn’t take the time to openly recognize the sacrifices that brave men & women of law enforcement make each day to keep domestic peace, I’m disappointed! I suspect that if these same deputies walked in to a restaurant, and without provocation shot and killed an innocent man, you and your staff would quickly whisk their family away to Washington for a future speech to make an example of police officers nationwide,” he added.
DeWees concluded on Facebook, “For me Mr. President, it has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat; black or white, male or female; but, it has everything to do with leading or following. I’m not shocked that you haven’t openly reached out or acknowledged publicly the recent rash of deaths in law enforcement, but I’m tremendously disappointed!”
Kendrick Lamar is reportedly Obama’s favorite rap artist and, perhaps not coincidentally, is also a favorite of the Black Lives Movement. He won his Grammy for “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which includes the blatantly anti-cop song “Alright,” featuring the line, “we hate the po-po / wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.”
Last June, Lamar opened the BET Awards with the song — which has become an unofficial anthem of the Black Lives matter movement — while standing on top of a graffiti-covered patrol car.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1bwh_vglA]
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