http://nypost.com/2014/12/20/they-gave-their-lives/It’s come to this.
Two NYPD officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, doing nothing more than sitting innocently in their car — murdered in cold blood, in broad daylight.
Officials say it was revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Hours earlier, the suspected gunman warned in an Instagram post, “I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today.” His reasoning: “They Take 1 Of Ours. . . Let’s Take 2 of Theirs.”
Let’s stipulate upfront: The depraved, horrific actions of one crazed killer is not cause to revoke Americans’ 1st Amendment right to protest.
But words have consequences.
Clearly, the protesters — egged on by politicians and professional activists — have engaged in a warped campaign to fuel anger at cops. Even before Saturday’s slaying of these officers, some protesters had become violent and attacked cops.
“What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” some chanted last week.
Now they’ve got their wish.
Nor has it helped that Mayor de Blasio has called cops racist, invoking “centuries of racism” — as if that reflects today’s world. Or that President Obama, too, has lent support, even if indirectly, for the notion that cops need to be reined in. Just last week, he actually created a task force to find ways to “create accountability” and “transparency” among cops — as if none exists today.
Remember, these two slain officers were not resisting arrest when they were shot. They had not just robbed a store and fought with a cop. Indeed, they weren’t even attempting to make an arrest.
Yet, will the Rev. Al Sharpton now hold rallies in support of cops? Not likely.
It’s telling, too, by the way, how often people somehow wind up dead amid “protests” Sharpton’s involved with. Freddy’s Fashion Mart: seven dead. Crown Heights: two dead. Now, the Eric Garner-Michael Brown protests: two slain police officers.
New Yorkers of good conscience will mourn these good officers. They’ll think of their families, who instead of preparing for Christmas are now planning funerals.
And they’ll think of the tragic context in which these cops gave their lives — and of those who helped create that context.
