This month we’ve had hyperventilating coverage of the Derek Chauvin trial, the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, and an Ohio police officer saving a girl’s life by killing the person attempting to stab her.
How do we engage in a rational dialogue about policing when even in cases where the officer unequivocally did the right thing, those with the strongest platforms suggest racial outrage and spew anti-police invective?
Moreover, how do we have “national conversations” when stories of police officers’ everyday contributions are routinely replaced with disingenuous commentary?
Or much worse, it isn’t helpful when radicals like Rep. Rashida Tlaib declare, “Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization.”
This ludicrous sentiment by a verifiable bigot, representing a major congressional district, is even crueler 48 hours before our country mourned a Capitol law enforcement officer slain by a Nation of Islam adherent.
Pseudo comedian Trevor Noah recently added to the unserious rhetoric, saying, “We’re told time and time again that these incidents that Black Americans are experiencing are because of ‘bad apples,’ right? My question, though, is where are the good apples?”
Noah, who obtained a seven-figure job only a few years after arriving in America, lives in a privileged bubble. It’s easy for wealthy celebrities and protected politicians to bash cops, but maybe someday they’ll admit they’d never last an hour doing what these brave men and women do every day.
They are officers, like the remarkable Eric Talley in Colorado, who gave his life last month without gratitude from the chattering classes. We don’t hear their stories nearly enough.
On Interstate 10 in New Mexico earlier this year, officer Darian Jarrott was shot at in point-blank range by a drug dealer at a traffic stop. Why the killer with a violent past — on his way to his next deal — wasn’t in prison, is a question for my libertarian friends. When the thug pointed a rifle in his face, Jarrott did not draw his own weapon; instead he attempted to convince the madman to hand over his. The criminal shot Jarrott multiple times, leaving the 28-year-old father of three dead.
Master Patrol Officer Jesse Madsen stopped a speeding drunk driver on a Florida highway in March by placing his vehicle into the path of the wrong-way driver. The 45-year-old father of three and U.S. Marine combat veteran saved lives yet lost his own.
Other than the Internet, Fox News and local media, you probably will not hear anyone “say Jarrott’s or Madsen’s names” — though both are minorities — nor tell their heroic feats. Universities will not convene panels of experts to analyze, nor will Minneapolis dedicate memorial plazas. It somehow doesn’t fit their narrative to mourn these tragic deaths. Why? It is a shameful aspect of America today that we so often laud the wrong people.
And it makes no sense. Despite what you hear, most Americans oppose the abominable idea of defunding our police.
How else do we train better cops without investment? The country can spend trillions on mostly nonsense, but cut the police budget? That’s also a recipe for disaster that leads to worse training, fewer good officers, and only increases violent crime, as we’ve seen. The police need to be refunded, not defunded.
Last year was one of the deadliest for police officers in American history. After COVID-19, the leading cause of death for police was being killed on the job.
Celebrities and athletes mostly are ungrateful hypocrites, who enjoy armed security but mock or try to harm law enforcement, as the morally bankrupt coward LeBron James — who never waits for facts before castigating America or the police — did this week by recklessly inciting violence.
Let’s recognize the heroism of the Thin Blue Line. Such coverage would show that police officers are mostly “good apples,” correcting slander from race-baiting stooges like James, Noah, Tlaib and those who are part of the problem.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
