Stop Violence Against Cops ... Three modest propositions

     The "incarceration prevention and reduction" movement is strong here, and WE do wonder/worry that tangible animosity against local cops might lurk - heaven forbid - given some of the inflammatory statements that have been made in Washington D.C. recently - glibly referred to as "buckets of issues" about failed policing (see this pathetic video July 14).  One statement stood out, "I think it is fair to say that we will see more tension in police -- between police and communities this month, next month, next year, for quite some time." Hope the police get all the support they need locally.

Three Modest Propositions
by Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online
June 18, 2016

In future presidential editorialization about the shooting deaths of police officers, perhaps the president himself might first offer a few “words matter” gestures that would reassure law enforcement, to use another Obama phrase, that he “has their back.” Here are just three low-bar proposals for how to discourage those who glorify or advocate lethal violence against criminal-justice officers:

• No longer invite into the White House any leaders whose affiliated members have marched chanting their desire to kill police officers (e.g., “What do we want? Dead cops” / “Pigs in a blanket; fry ’em like bacon”).
• Do not consult with any self-appointed leader in the White House whose past has included overt and implicit calls to shoot police officers (e.g., Al Sharpton: “I believe in offing the pigs. Well, they got pigs out here. You ain’t offed one of them. What I believe in, I do. Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit you’ve lost your courage and your guts to stand up”).
• Do not invite into the White House any artists whose work has glorified the killing of officers of the criminal-justice system (e.g., Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly album, one of whose songs was dubbed by Obama as his favorite of 2015), whose cover depicts a group of African-American youth celebrating with champagne and cash on the White House lawn over the corpse of a white judge with his eyes X-ed out).

I don’t think that is too much to ask of the president of the United States — and perhaps such simple gestures might do a lot more for police reconciliation than the usual Obama summits and community “dialogues.”

____

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist.