Why Michael Jordan Hasn’t Been Shot by the Police

Michael Jordan (Photo credit: Bryan Horowitz)

NBA legend Michael Jordan just announced that he could “no longer remain silent” about the growing tensions between black Americans and the police, and his words provide all the explanation needed about the source of these shootings – “I have the greatest respect for their [i.e., police officers] sacrifice and service. I also recognize that for many people of color their experiences with law enforcement have been different than mine.” (italics mine)

Jordan noted that he was raised to respect people of all races and backgrounds, and that for three decades he has “seen up close and personal the dedication of the law enforcement officers who protect me and my family.”

And that’s the missing ingredient in almost every case the past few years when a black person is shot by the police.  Because they apparently weren’t raised to respect people of other races, especially the police, and because they clearly did not have respect for the sacrifice and service of the police.  You can see it in the videos: vile language, ignoring, resisting or outright refusing to obey every lawful command from the police, physically fighting with officers, etc.

Again, in all these cases that the shameless media have gleefully made national news to enhance their ratings, the one common denominator has been the behavior of the black person who got shot.  Change that, and we’d never heard of any of those people.  But for over fifty years white politicians have given the black community a free pass, a license to ignore the law, ostensibly because of slavery and Jim Crow (which none of those alive today under the age of 60 can rightly claim to have experienced!).  As if not enforcing the law today somehow makes up for not enforcing the law in the last century.  No, it only compounds the sin.

But black families refuse to take responsibility for their part in promoting that lawless, “we have a different set of rules” mentality, wailing and crying instead over the dead bodies of their loved ones.  Perhaps if they had really loved them, they would taught them to show some respect to law enforcement, and to behave differently in their dealings with them.  But when you’ve been allowed to violate many of society’s rules of behavior for over half a century simply because of your skin color, guess that’s asking too much.

Michael Jordan is right that “many people of color’s experiences with law enforcement have been different that mine.”  But then, he’s never cursed the police, or refused to obey their lawful commands, or fought with them.   If Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, et al, had done the same, they’d all still be alive today.  What a searing indictment of the “black community.”

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Formerly a liberal and an atheist, Paul E. Scates served as a Marine in Vietnam and is a lifelong student of American history, politics and culture. A former contributor to national website TooGoodReports.com, he writes his staunchly independent Conservative and informed Christian commentary for his fellow ordinary, working Americans, the “we, the people” who are ultimately responsible for preserving our Constitutional liberties.

Paul E. Scates

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