I Take One Week Off And The World Goes Crazy

On January 20th, 2014 (Saturday afternoon) two New York Policemen were shot and killed while sitting in the front of their patrol cars. Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were targeted solely on their uniform in an attack without warning or provocation. There was no riot, there was no shoot-out, it was simply an assassination.

Both officers were shot at point-blank range in their heads and died immediately. The lone gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, was pursued by police. However, as they closed in on him, Ismaaiyl turned the gun on himself in a subway platform.

Officer Liu had been on the N.Y.P.D. for seven years was a newlywed of 4 months. Officer Rafael was a dad of two sons, and had only spent two years in the N.Y.P.D.

The gunman, Brinsley, was a large advocate against the police in light of the recent Brown and Garner trials.

Brinsley had written on his Instagram hours before the attack:

"I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take one of ours, we take two of theirs. This may be my final post."

The N.Y.P.D. has written that they are now a "wartime" police department and will act accordingly. In the words of The Guardian's Steven Thrasher, "Have we learned nothing?"

Accounts of the incident are beyond brutal, including that the victims struggled to get out of their vehicle but fell to the ground lifeless while clutching their wounds.

This kind of violence is absolutely despicable, and should never be necessary. It deeply pains me to see the dark turns these events have taken, and all the pain that has been caused to both sides of this power struggle.

I will stand on the side of the people to the end of this fight, through thick and thin. However, this kind of violence is intolerable, and tarnishes the reputation that we must build in order to prevail. So no matter what side I fight for,,I sincerely grieve the loss of more innocent people.

We must never forget that there are human beings on either side of any conflict, and although we dispute, we are all equal, and we can never dehumanize the other side.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"Feeling superior? While you were making yourself from scratch, why didn't you add more hair and whiter teeth?" -Norm Bearrentine