Read President Obama's Open Letter to America's Law Enforcement Community

In the wake of the tragedies in Dallas and Baton Rouge, President Obama penned a letter to the men and women of America's law enforcement community. The President's letter was shared with officers around the country.

Read it below:

To the brave members of our Nation’s law enforcement community:

Every day, you confront danger so it does not find our families, carry burdens so they do not fall to us, and courageously meet test after test to keep us safe.  Like Dallas officer Lorne Ahrens, who bought dinner for a homeless man the night before he died, you perform good deeds beyond the call of duty and out of the spotlight.  Time and again, you make the split-second decisions that could mean life or death for you and many others in harm’s way.  You endure the tense minutes and long hours over lifetimes of service.

Every day, you accept this responsibility and you see your colleagues do their difficult, dangerous jobs with equal valor.  I want you to know that the American people see it, too.  We recognize it, we respect it, we appreciate it, and we depend on you.  And just as your tight-knit law enforcement family feels the recent losses to your core, our Nation grieves alongside you.  Any attack on police is an unjustified attack on all of us.

I’ve spent a lot of time with law enforcement over the past couple of weeks.  I know that you take each of these tragedies personally, and that each is as devastating as a loss in the family.  Sunday’s shooting in Baton Rouge was no different.  Together, we mourn Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald, and Brad Garafola.  Each was a husband.  Each was a father.  Each was a proud member of his community.  And each fallen officer is one too many.  Last week, I met with the families of the Dallas officers who were killed, and I called the families of those who were killed in the line of duty yesterday in Baton Rouge.  I let them know how deeply we ache for the loss of their loved ones.

Some are trying to use this moment to divide police and the communities you serve.  I reject those efforts, for they do not reflect the reality of our Nation.  Officer Jackson knew this too, when just days ago he asked us to keep hatred from our hearts.  Instead, he offered—to protestors and fellow police officers alike—a hug to anyone who saw him on the street.  He offered himself as a fellow worshipper to anyone who sought to pray.  Today, we offer our comfort and our prayers to his family, to the Geralds and the Garafolas, and to the tight-knit Baton Rouge law enforcement community.

As you continue to serve us in this tumultuous hour, we again recognize that we can no longer ask you to solve issues we refuse to address as a society.  We should give you the resources you need to do your job, including our full-throated support.  We must give you the tools you need to build and strengthen the bonds of trust with those you serve, and our best efforts to address the underlying challenges that contribute to crime and unrest.

As you continue to defend us with quiet dignity, we proclaim loudly our appreciation for the acts of service you perform as part of your daily routine.  When you see civilians at risk, you don’t see them as strangers.  You see them as your own family, and you lay your life on the line for them.  You put others’ safety before your own, and you remind us that loving our country means loving one another.  Even when some protest you, you protect them.  What is more professional than that?  What is more patriotic?  What is a prouder example of our most basic freedoms—to speech, to assembly, to life, and to liberty?  And at the end of the day, you have a right to go home to your family, just like anybody else.

Robert Kennedy, once our Nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement official, lamented in the wake of unjust violence a country in which we look at our neighbors as people “with whom we share a city, but not a community.”  This is a time for us to reaffirm that what makes us special is that we are not only a country, but also a community.  That is true whether you are black or white, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are a police officer or someone they protect and serve.

With that understanding—an understanding of the goodness and decency I have seen of our Nation not only in the past few weeks, but throughout my life—we will get through this difficult time together.

We will do it with the love and empathy of public servants like those we have lost in recent days.  We will do it with the resilience of cities like Dallas that quickly came together to restore order and deepen unity and understanding.  We will do it with the grace of loved ones who even in their grief have spoken out against vengeance toward police.  We will do it with the good will of activists like those I have sat with in recent days, who have pledged to work together to reduce violence even as they voice their disappointments and fears.

As we bind up our wounds, we must come together to ensure that those who try to divide us do not succeed.  We are at our best when we recognize our common humanity, set an example for our children of trust and responsibility, and honor the sacrifices of our bravest by coming together to be better.

Thank you for your courageous service.  We have your backs.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Half of blacks say police have treated them unfairly

A majority of blacks in the United States -- more than 3 out of 5 -- say they or a family member have personal experience with being treated unfairly by the police, and their race is the reason.

Half of African-American respondents, including 6 in 10 black men, said they personally had been treated unfairly by police because of their race, compared with 3 percent of whites. Another 15 percent said they knew of a family member who had been treated unfairly by the police because of their race.

This information, from a survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, comes as the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, approaches its first anniversary and the nation continues to grapple with police-related deaths of black Americans.

Read more: Half of blacks say police have treated them unfairly

Study: Prejudice makes us see innocent people as threats

The police killings of unarmed black men like Eric Garner, Michael Brown and, most recently, Sam Dubose at a July 19 traffic stop at the University of Cincinnati, have enraged many and baffled more. Why did Cleveland police shoot and kill 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year? How did self-styled block watch patrolman George Zimmerman decide to shoot and kill teenager Trayvon Martin, who was armed with nothing but a bag of candy on that night in 2012? These outrages have caused demonstrations, urban unrest, more violence and a larger sense that something has gone wrong in the nation’s race relations.

Besides outright racism, what motivates the overreaction of law-enforcement and vigilantes who have left these men dead?

A social psychologist at Wellesley College who studies diversity and friendship, Angela Bahns, has recently completed research that helps to explain part of the puzzle: It shows that people can imagine a sense of threat — a threat serious enough to justify violence — even with no real evidence besides their own stereotypes. And the stereotypes, the research suggests, are the root causes of the violence.

Prejudice makes us see innocent people as threats, study says

Are conservatives/republicans/Tea Party anti black or just pro cop?

In light of the rash of videos showing police acting inappropriately toward African Americans there are two things we can expect whenever a video comes out. One being that everyone will see the videos and based on their own biases see what they want to see. The second thing is that conservatives/republicans/Tea Party will always side with the police and give them the overwhelming benefit of the doubt. Many African Americans will side with the victim because many have had or know family members that experienced their rights violated by the police. It's sad, but things always break down by race and political beliefs with this cases.

Conservatives will always find a way to side with the cop no matter what they see on video. They will post pictures of the victim holding up their middle finger or acting in a thuggish manner (even if it's not an actual picture of the victim), claim the kids were disrespectful, or if they are lucky find and post a victim's criminal record. They will do this to justify whatever the officer did as if past mistakes or teenage stupidity allows one to be beaten or shot. It's automatically assumed that the black victims were somehow at fault. They expect minorities to blindly show respect to people who in many cases show no respect to them.

There are two things that amaze me about conservatives/ Tea Party types always siding with the police.

One being that no matter how many of these videos come out, theses are always considered isolated incidents. Conservatives tend to believe that there are no bad cops just bad blacks that get themselves shot or beaten.

It's also amazing to me that people who are always spouting off about the government trying to violate their constitutional rights have no problem with police violating the rights of African Americans or other minorities. If you believe it's okay for police departments to police many minority communities the way that they do, then you believe in allowing them to routinely violate those people's civil rights. Conservatives should be the first to stand up and denounce inappropriate police actions if they truly believe the BS they spout.

Now of course that's not going to happen and one has to wonder why. Is it just having the utmost respect for law enforcement? Is it simply a blind eye to the realities of policing in minority neighborhoods, or is it due to the hue of the victim's skin as in good old fashioned racism or bias?

George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com

Shouldn't police officers live in the communities they police?

Let me preface this by stating that this not an anti-cop piece and that I believe that by and large most cops are decent people. That being said an article in a local. paper stoked my interest today. The article was about the city of Newark NJ wanting rookie cops to live in the city during the first five years of their employment. The city believes that this would lead to better policing as the cops would better know the community and vice versa. I don't see how it could hurt as far as community relations go.

Newark's police director Eugene Venable made the following statement.

"If they live in the city, they now belong to that neighborhood and are part of the city. They are not just coming in from other towns," he said. "There's an allegiance to the community they serve which involves more than just collecting a paycheck."

The police union is of course against this proposed change. Many simply don't want to live in Newark. Now if I were cynical I would worry about a police force that doesn't want to live in a town/city they police if they are, as they claim doing a good job cleaning up crime. I expected the usual argument about how such a policy would effect recruitment but one argument against such a policy surprised me.

In the article Fraternal Order Police president James Stewart made the following statement as a reason why such a policy should not be established.

"You talk about the community. Right now the community hates us. Everything you see on social media. Everything you see in the media. The community hates the police," Stewart told the state Assembly Judiciary Committee. "And you want to put us right in the middle of that with our families? I think it's outrageous."

Now there may be good reasons to be against a residency requirement but I don't think that is one. I wish someone could have questioned Stewart as to why the community hates them so much and what the police are doing about that, but it was not the time or place for that. I was just wondering what cops are doing to people that they would be scared to live around those same people?

Now I think cops should live in the communities they police so they have more skin in the game. What do you think?

Suspect Arrested in Connection with Ferguson Cop Shooting

[SOURCE] Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the shooting of two officers in Ferguson last week, St. Louis County Police announced Sunday afternoon. The suspect’s name is Jeffrey Williams, 20. Williams has admitted to firing the shots that struck the police officers, though authorities said it was unclear whether he was aiming for the officers. Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said that Williams had fired from a car, possibly as part of a dispute with other people, though he said that there was as of yet no confirmation of the existence of the separate dispute. Williams’ weapon was recovered and matched the shell casings found at the scene.

Two police officers shot in Ferguson

Two police officers were shot during a protest outside Ferguson, Missouri police headquarters early on Thursday, police said, just hours after the city's police chief quit following a damning U.S. Justice Department report into his force.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters a 41-year-old officer from his department was struck in the shoulder and a 32-year-old officer from the nearby Webster Groves Police Department was hit in the face around midnight as the crowd was starting to break up.

He said he did not know the conditions of the officers, whom he did not identify, but said they were both conscious and being treated at a local hospital.

Read more: Two officers shot outside Ferguson police headquarters after chief quits

African Americans don't need to be told to hate or mistrust the police.

I'm convinced that conservatives and cops think black people as a whole are incapable of thinking for ourselves. First we had to be told by Obama, Holder, and Sharpton to get mad when no no cop was indicted in the Garner or Brown cases. I mean of course we wouldn't have gotten mad. Why would we? I mean Garner could have been our brother, father, grandson, or nephew. No way we internalize that, we of course would have went on our merry little ways if not told to be angry.

But now I have just found out from conservative media and the police that I and several million other blacks have never had an issue with or mistrusted the police until Obama, Holder, and Sharpton told us we had an issue with them. I just found out that all those prior negative experiences (although I like most black men have no record and have never committed a crime) I have had with police didn't make me bitter or distrustful of them it was that "evil" triumvirate of Obama, Holder, and Sharpton that made me feel that way.

Former NY mayor Guiliani who has done more to hurt minority and police relations by always taking the cops side than any member of the "evil" triumvirate said on Fox News Sunday ( where else) that "We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police, I don't care how you want to describe it -- that's what those protests are all about."

Guiliani would be right if only police abuse and brutality had not been prevalent in the minority community long before President Obama was in office and Holder was appointed Attorney General. Generations of black and brown people have grown up in the United States and have had to deal with negative interactions with the police. That's just a fact and all police and conservatives bitching and moaning about it won't change that fact.

Guiliani and his ilk have made a false equivalency between protesting the death of Eric Garner and wanting better treatment from the police with being anti-cop. I'm sorry that comparison is simply bullshit. To believe that the comparison you would have to believe that the only way to do police work in minority communities is to violate people's civil and human rights.

If cops want the protest to stop then they should stop whining about being called out for their behavior and make changes to that behavior. What will help heal the rift is police acknowledging they have been occupying communities of color and not policing them. What will bring change is treating minority communities the same way you treat others. What will is actually reaching out and getting to know the community you police and finding out who is trouble and who is a young man on his way from school.

Until that happens the mistrust and in some cases hate will linger. No one will have to tell anyone what to think because we know firsthand.

George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com

Body cameras protect both civilians and the police.

First let me say that I have a deep respect for most of the people that police our neighborhoods and understand that they perform a necessary and at times dangerous job. It's a job I want no part of as I'm sure that cops see people at their worst and have to deal with some overwhelming situations. To those good cops who protect us, THANK YOU.

In light of the tragic deaths of both Eric Gardner and Michael Brown at the hands of the police many have suggested that police officers wear body cameras, and several departments such as Newark NJ and New York City are instituting pilot programs.

For some reason some cops and or their unions seem to be against the idea and think it will drastically affect how cops do their jobs. They say cops will be so worried about what they can and can not do that many will simply stop policing or be too busy over thinking a situation to do their jobs. They believe cops would do this to avoid being caught in any wrongdoing on camera.

My response to that is if you are doing things the right way, what are you afraid of? If you are following police procedures and treating all citizens with respect why would having to wear a camera bother you at all.

Police should keep in mind that body cameras also help THEM. There are many instances where the cameras showed that the police were in the right, and video has exonerated them. I see no reason why GOOD cops would have a problem wearing a body camera.

I also realize that a body camera doesn't solve everything. Those cops determined to do wrong will simply shut the camera off and depend on the fact that far too many District Attorneys and grand juries give them the benefit of the doubt. There must be punishment for those who don't have the cameras on when interacting with the public for this to work.

I think body cameras are a good idea and as long as cops are acting as officers and not overseers they will have nothing to worry about when wearing one.

George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com

African Americans don't need black leaders to tell us when to be angry.

This is going to be short and sweet.

In the aftermath of the riots in Ferguson MO after the decision by a grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson many conservative/right wing talking heads blamed President Obama, Eric Holder, and Al Sharpton for the violence. In conservative minds those men somehow roused the whole black community to action and violence.

I'm sure all three are amazed that they have such sway over black minds. (I'm sure that President Obama is kicking himself in the ass for not using that power to make African Americans vote in the mid-term elections.)

I was surprised at this because the conservative theory seems to be based on a belief that we as black people don't get mad or angry unless a "black leader" tells us to. They seem to believe they in the deaths of Eric Garner or Michael Brown that we would have just shrugged our shoulders, and continued on with life if Al Sharpton didn't get involved.

Of course this theory ignores the fact that far too many of us (especially black men) have had bad experiences with the police. It ignores the fact that many of us are stopped are harassed by the police because we don't belong somewhere or the cop has a "hunch" about us. The fact that I have never been in trouble, am a former soldier and serve as an elected member of my local school board doesn't mean much when a cop decides I'm "suspicious". I will be stopped, detained, and harassed without so much as "Sorry for the inconvenience sir" when the cop decides that I'm clean. Imagine how that makes you feel about the police, you know the very guys/gals that are supposed to protect us.

Many black men know the tired lie cops tell of there being a B&E ( Breaking & Entering) in the area and that they or their car match the description. We all know that everyone of these BS stops can end up with us dead and the cop who killed us getting off because society holds them to a different standard and gives them a benefit of the doubt it would never give a black man.

So when we hear cases like those of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, or Tamir Rice we get mad, we get mad all on our own!

It's not the Al Sharpton's of the world that make us angry it's the JustUs system in this country that does. Fix that BS system and you wont hear from Al Sharpton again.

George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com.

Three very good reasons for the militarization of local police

Many seem to be a bit peeved about the slight over reaction by the Ferguson Police Department during protest over the death of Michael Brown. There has been a huge outcry about the militarization of local police. A few people are upset because police in the United States looked like Russian thugs instead of cops. But to all of you people out there crying I know of three instances where you would be happy that the police were packing military style weapons, vehicles, and gear. Now if you just put your brain and your common sense to the side I'm sure that you will agree that police looking like f*cking storm troopers can be a good thing. So here are the three really good reasons for the militarization of local police.

Reason 1: Zombie Apocalypse.

One day the dead will walk. Call them zombies, walkers, living dead, or the walking dead but they only have one name for us, lunch. The only thing standing between the dead and your brain will be your local police force.

That's right your liberal asses will be happy as well when the dead walk and your local neighborhood police have enough fire power to take on a small country.

Reason 2: Alien Attack

When aliens attack the only thing standing between you and an alien anal probe will be that cop in full military gear. For those 5% of you who think that an alien anal probe might not be such a bad thing how about when that probe is followed up by devastating laser fire? Bet you wont mind GI Cop running down your street then.

Reason 3: Godzilla

That's right the king of the monsters might be stomping down your street one day killing all your family and friends. When his fire breath is scorching your ass you will be only too happy to see an MRAP or tank rolling down Main Street.

Those are three very good reasons to have a militarized police force. So what you got to say now?

George Cook AfricanAmericanReports.com