OPINION: POLICE, SHOOTINGS AND SLOGANS

Yes, All Lives Matter

As we all know, there has been a ruckus in the last year or so with the slogan of “Black Lives Matter” spearheading a contention that minority group men were being constantly (unfairly) stopped and hassled by police and worse, being shot by them willy-nilly, — charges that came with protests marches, one of which notoriously featured the ever bungling Mayor Bill DeBlasio.

Then came the assassinations of NYPD Officers Ramos and Liu, who were sitting peacefully in their squad car in Brooklyn by a black activist who had come up from Philadelphia , “seeking justice.”

A friend of mine, notoriously liberal , ran a cartoon touting the slogan ” All Lives Matter” ( as a response to “Black Lives Matter ” and then the counter slogan “Police Lives Matter”).

I am a staunch supporter of the NYPD, despite all its shortcomings. I have had frustrations dealing with them, friends among them, and known members of them whom I wish could be deported even though they are native born white American flag waving males. 

I am also a supporter of Human Rights and the dignity of individuals, everywhere, not just in the U.S,. but in so much of this benighted world. We are all part of Humanity and basically all cut from the same cloth, and “disappearing” journalists in Russia or the depradations of ISIS are bad for ALL of us, no matter where we live. We may not exactly be “Our Brother’s Keeper” or live in each other’s pockets ( there is Free Will and Freedom of Choice and the need to face the consequences of these as an individual, too). But we are all part of the Human Race, and , indeed, “All Lives Matter.”

I thought last year I would run as my New Year’s pic my selfie with the slogan “All Lives Matter.” Which seemed reasonable enough to me.

Well, this year the slogan “All Lives Matter ” has come under violent attack as some kind of excuse for the further murder and suppression of minorities. 

I, of course, don’t buy that. 

Police have to be taught not to jump out of their squad cars and fire endless rounds in ambiguous situations. Minority group leaders have to face the fact that most of the murder of black males, for instance, is vastly at the hands of other black males…as I have said here before, you are most likely to be murdered by someone you know, not by a stranger. ( Check out the FBI statistics on shootings and homicides in NYC for last year and see for yourself).

So I continue to to say that “All Lives Matter,” — in this case I am wearing a T Shirt I got at a rally supporting a decent pay raise for our Police Officers at Gracie Mansion ( as usual, the City Council had given themselves very generous raises but were not going to be so generous when it came to our Uniformed Services, such as the ever-vilified NYPD. By the way, while I will wear my FDNY caps and T Shirts around Manhattan, I wouldn’t think of wearing any police type gear –for several reasons– except maybe to show I was a supporter of the Police Athletic League. Even then, my tendency would be to keep my head down…

But on Facebook I know pretty much who my friends are and I have no qualms about the message. Here;’s to a better 2016 for everyone the world over, futile as that hope may seem to so many of us right now, and I stand with the position that Yes, All Lives Matter.