On July 7, 2016 at approximately 8:45 PM a cold, calculated and cowardly act was perpetrated in the City of Dallas, Texas with primary targets being white people and more specifically white police officers. According to Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s news conference, the suspect allegedly stated “he was upset at white people, especially white officers.” This cowardly act was very likely perpetrated by the perception of two recent police shootings, one in Minnesota and one in Louisiana, of two black men being unjustified. Following a complete investigation, the facts should reveal whether these shootings were justified or not. To date, neither of these investigations are complete. To make a judgment prior to a complete investigation is unfair in all respects. For politicians to pass judgement prior to all the facts being available, which either leads to exoneration or pursuit of criminal charges, is grossly unfair and could prejudice the outcome. There are well documented instances in the past few years where politicians have prematurely passed judgement and have been wrong.
The horrendous consequences of this possible misperception is there are five dead police officers in Dallas, Texas that had no connection at all to these two incidents. They were killed simply because they were police officers and more specifically because they were white police officers. To say there is no justification to this type madness would be an understatement of magnanimous proportions. The results of this madness is five innocent lives were taken; five families will forever be affected by this travesty; two agencies, DART Police and Dallas Police Department, will be affected for years; and a city will have to live with this travesty for who knows how long.
It is my personal opinion that as a nation, we have lost our moral compass. To regain it, we must have leaders that are truly interested in our country rather than their own personal interests and agendas. It is also my opinion that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers in the United States go to work each day to do their jobs in the right way for the right reasons and are often put in a position to risk their lives for people they don’t even know. Unless one has been in a situation where you suddenly realize that you may have to take another person’s life or possibly lose your own life, you are not capable of understanding what that feeling is like. I have been in that situation twice and I hope that I never have to have that experience again.
As an agency, we would like to offer our prayers, condolences, and support to the Dallas Police Department and DART Police Department and stand willing to assist in any way we are called upon. I encourage citizens wishing to donate to the victims’ families to please do so at
http://atodallas.org/.
In closing, I found a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that best sums up our situation. “Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading to nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence. It doesn’t solve any problems.”
Sheriff Harold Eavenson
Rockwall County