Yesterday’s attack on the police in Dallas resulted in the deaths of five officers and the wounding of seven more policemen. We all express our sympathy for the families of the deceased and wounded officers. These families are experiencing the ultimate nightmare when their husbands and fathers did not return home.
The statement made by the dead shooter makes it clear that this is a hate crime, plain and simple. These murders are the predictable outcome of the “war on the police" and the racial polarization that has been fostered in this country.
I am calling for a national conference, bringing together governors, attorneys general, mayors, law enforcement and leaders from community organizations to address this problem before it becomes worse. This approach was successful when I brought together attorneys general to
address arson against African American churches in the 1990’s. Unfortunately, based on his prior statements, President Obama cannot lead this effort.
The statements made at the time of the Baton Rouge press conference following the police shooting, including calls to "arrest the police" set this stage. President's Obama's statement this past Thursday, before the Dallas attack, on police shootings also helped set the stage. The
president's statement condemning the Dallas attack is too late to undo his terrible earlier statement implying that the police are targeting African Americans- an infamous lie.
The establishment press this morning is reasserting its attack on the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment, in an attempt to divert us away from the real problem. As a former prosecutor, any police shooting must be judged on whether the person being arrested had a gun and was endangering the officer. The officer has a duty to himself, his family and the
community not to be murdered by the person he is arresting. To young men on the street, I say: "don't pull a gun on a policeman trying to arrest you."
Jim Gilmore was the 68th governor of Virginia, chairman of the Republican National Committee and a candidate for president in the 2008 and 2016 election cycles.
