Rest in peace
For the wife and children of NYPD?Police Officer Rafael Ramos, Christmas held no joy this year.
Nor has the holiday season been joyous for the widowed bride of Officer Wen Jian Liu.
These family men were slain as they sat in their parked patrol car by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had shot an ex-girlfriend before embarking to New York with the goal of “putting wings on pigs.”
Brinsley, whose Insta-gram postings referenced the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown and included the comment, “…They Take 1 Of Ours…Let’s Take 2 Of Theirs#ShootThePolice…,” then shot himself to death in a subway as police were closing in.
His family is quoted in news accounts as saying the 28-year-old gunman who had told bystanders to “Watch what I’m going to do” before firing four bullets into the officers, was mentally ill and had been for most of his troubled life.
His mother, Shakuwra Dabre, told the New York Daily News that she is “deeply sorry” as a result of her son’s actions.
As are we all: All lives matter.
We won’t tell you we understand what’s it’s like to be profiled based on race and gender. We don’t.
We won’t tell you we understand what it’s like to reach a breaking point that leads to rioting and looting. We don’t – and never will.
But we will tell you that we understand and agree on a key point: Hateful stereotyping and negative broadbrush generalizations based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender – or profession – have no place in today’s America.
Rest in Peace, Officers Rafael Ramos and Wen Jian Liu.
Our thoughts are with you and your families.
– Eagle editorial