THIS week two black Americans were gunned down by law enforcers. On Tuesday the Louisiana police shot at Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge while he was selling mixtapes. This was followed by the killing of Philando Castile, 32, after a traffic stop in Minnesota on Wednesday. These killings termed as ‘racist’ have provoked an equally brutal reaction where five police officers were shot dead and seven others were wounded in Dallas on Thursday night. This happened during a protest march against the two back to back shootings incident in separate incidents over the past two days. Those wounded in the attack against the police included two civilians. The shooting now ranks as the deadliest targeted attack on U.S. police officers in nearly 100 years and the deadliest day for law enforcement since the 9/11 terror attacks. None of the protesters, who scattered in search of cover immediately after the shots rang out, have been reported dead. However, the city’s mayor, Mike Rawlings, said one member of the public was wounded.
Thursday’s shooting could further polarize the ongoing debate centred around race and law enforcement in the US following the two deaths this week. President Obama who is in Warsaw, made a chilling comment that when incidents like this occur, there’s a big chunk of American citizens who feel as if because of the colour of their skin they are not being treated with dignity and equity. That racism continues to be a problem in the world’s oldest democracy is a troubling thought. Yet race and religion have been the themes around which the current debates of the presidential election have revolved around. Republican candidate Donald Trump is known to be a motor mouth populist who will say anything to appease his radical supporters. If leadership is going to be about appeasement of raw, unbridled ethnocentrism then America is doomed to regress into the dark ages of racist politics. Law enforcers take their cues from politicians and often let loose their own prejudices based on what they hear being spoken by eminent persons on public platforms. If politics alone is to determine the standards of behaviour in society then the US can no longer be called, “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” as is scripted in its national anthem.