On Thursday, July 7th, 5 Dallas policemen were gunned down by a sniper protesting against police brutality. The sniper was identified by The Associated Press to be a 25 year old black man named Micah Johnson. Johnson is quoted as saying that he “wanted to kill white people”. He was upset about several instances involving police officers killing black men. He was killed after the officers tried and failed to reason with him. They sent in a robot equipped with explosives and when all else failed, they detonated the bomb.
What Micah Johnson failed to understand is that violence is never the answer. He was seeking revenge for what he thought were unjust crimes against people of his race. He was protesting violence with violence. The officers understood that violence never works and tried to reason with him before determining that there was nothing they could do to stop him. In his last moments of life before he was killed, he told officers that he had planted bombs around the city. After a search of the city, police determined that this was only a threat.
Chief David Brown was quoted as saying the following: “We’re hurting, our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”
Mike Rawlings, Mayor of Dallas expressed his condolences, “It’s a heartbreaking moment for the city of Dallas, I ask that everybody focus on one thing right now, and that is Dallas police officers, their families, those that are deceased and those that are in the hospital fighting for their lives.”
This is indeed a heartbreaking story. I pray that violence will one day cease and that we will have peace in the world. Click on the link for the full story.
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