By Thom Palmer
July 7, 2016
4000 years ago, Hammurabi, the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty, created a series of laws, or "codes" which define punishment for crimes against a person or property. One of the Codes of Hammurabi, and the one that sticks through today in most nations world-wide is "An Eye for an Eye, and a "Tooth for a Tooth". Here is the text translated... "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone" Popular public opinion is that Hammurabi's Code is a good thing in general. We use it when sentencing criminals found guilty of any crime. If you take a life, you lose your life, either through life imprisonment or death penalty. Premeditated murder does not come with a slap on the wrist. If you purposely kill a innocent man, you deserve to lose your life. It's accepted in the United States and world-wide as a whole. In fact, Hammurabi is one of the twenty-three lawgivers depicted in marble bas-reliefs in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. An image depicting the "great lawgivers of history", including Hammurabi, is on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building. In essence, the U.S. government supports the Code of Hammurabi, and can arguably be defended in the Second Amendment.
Last night we saw videos of innocent cops bleeding out, and dying on the streets of Dallas, fellow officers with their heads in their hands, families of cops destroyed forever. I fear that this is just the beginning. Just as the act of one Islamic terrorist can create a reaction against all muslims by many, the act of one bad racist cop can create a hatred toward all cops by many. Neither is right, both are misguided, and at the same time, both are somewhat understandable. Killing unnecessarily is always wrong, whether a cop killing an innocent black man or a black man killing an innocent cop. This article is not to suggest that any of this is okay. On the contrary, continued peaceful demonstration and a good Democratic Senate and House of Representatives will help greatly.
The blood of the five dead cops is on the hands of the NRA and GOP, along with the 25 year old killer, who was allowed to purchase his AR-15 rifle and was pushed to insanity.
When a reckless cop kills an innocent black man, and is not dealt with immediately and harshly by the P.D. and/or DOJ, convicted and sentenced as a murderer appropriately, every other cop in the nation is at risk of retaliation now. The blue shield, protecting cops regardless of guilt, is only protecting that particular cop. All other cops are exposed as sacrificial lambs, inviting very angry people who have not seen justice served, to seek revenge.
Marches have not helped, Presidential pleas have not helped, body cams have not helped, religious leaders asking for peace have not helped. Nothing has helped, as we seem to see almost every day, as another young black man is treated as less than human by some racist cop. Families of these young black men are destroyed forever, and the expectation is that there will be no justice served. Therefore, fear and anger flows throughout the black community, as they know they're always at risk of another crazy cop killing them unnecessarily. This is LIFE we're talking about. When a small minority of cops do very bad things, and the entire law enforcement community seem to always back up the bad cop, then all cops wear the stench of racism and hatred in the eyes of many. All cops are at risk when the few bad ones consistently walk. Something is very wrong here. In the absence of justice against the perpetrators, the anger and the threat becomes the department which supports this behavior.
The National Rifle Association and the Republicans in the House and Senate, regularly tout the notion of arming America in order to defend yourself against personal threats. Following the money, so to speak, and by the logic of the NRA and Republican Party, attacks by the public against a group which openly murders innocent black men is perfectly justified. However, the killing of innocent cops wasn't what they had in mind, but it's the result of their rhetoric. Lack of common sense gun control and background checks has once more allowed a crazy individual to mow down 5 innocent police officers. The act, the murders, the carnage, is 100% sanctioned by the NRA and the Republican Party who refuse to allow logical and sensible gun laws. They always call for prayers. Prayers do not help either.
I always ask gun nuts "Which well regulated militia do you belong to?".
Their answer is always ...... "silence". DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT...VOTE BLUE.
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