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#SomeMothersMatter
I have a fairly high tolerance when it comes to grieving parents: It may be a cliché, but it’s likely true that none of us can understand the anguish and sorrow of losing one’s child without having gone through it. However, I have a very low tolerance for those who enable parents to present thugs and thieves as victims and martyrs. Whatever one’s other feelings about police shootings and #BlackLivesMatter, justice and decency should have demanded that Lezley McSpadden — the mother of Michael Brown, pictured below in the blue dress — not be featured on a stage of victims at the DNC. But as you can see, she was.
To recap briefly, Ms. McSpadden’s son shoplifted at a convenience store and assaulted one of its clerks who attempted to intervene; we know this because it was captured on the surveillance tape. Less than fifteen minutes later, Officer Darren Wilson — responding to another call — yelled at Brown and his accomplice to get off the median line; shortly thereafter, Brown punched Wilson in the face, attempted to wrestle away his handgun, and charged Wilson before the latter shot him dead. If you don’t believe me, check out the report from the Obama Administration’s Justice Department. For a summary, you might check out this piece from Reason, a publication hardly known for being overly deferential toward police.
In the days and weeks that followed, Brown’s accomplice spread the false rumor that Brown had been surrendering to Wilson when he was killed. This and other calumnies contributed to the riots that engulfed the town of Ferguson, heated racial tensions across the country, and played no small role in the eventual murders of police officers this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge. McSpadden’s husband made his own contributions to the violence, urging fellow protesters to “Burn that mother [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down!“
And this person was given a place on the stage at the convention of one of our two major political parties for the purpose of calling attention to injustice.
I am not surprised that Hillary Clinton would have her on stage. I am amazed — if not surprised — that the other mothers* would besmirch their own reputations, as well as the memories of their dead children, by doing so.
* I could make the argument that the same should apply to Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother. We do not know precisely what precipitated the scuffle that left him dead, but we do know that it left George Zimmerman with gashes in the back of his head, which had been slammed repeatedly onto the pavement. On the other hand, Zimmerman’s behavior these last few years has been so disgusting and dishonorable that I think his initial accounts of what happened — which I largely accepted — deserve some skepticism. I would not share a stage with her, but I would not condemn others for it in the way I do those who shared one with McSpadden.
Published in General
Just another day in the Democratic Party.
That Michael Brown is still some kind of martyr speaks volumes about racial exploitation from the left.
Well said Tom. Thumbs up! It would be a great leap forward if we started looking at these incidents as individual incidents, involving individual people, and individual facts. When the facts are looked at, the police are sometimes justified (as with Brown) and sometimes not. “Justice” means sorting the former from the latter through a process of examining evidence of what occurred. It does not mean whipping mobs into a frenzy over claims that every incident of police use of force is an instance of racial oppression.
Phelim McAleer will be putting out a film, based on his play using the exact transcript of the Ferguson Trial. The hands up/ don’t shoot lie needs to be exposed and it’s disgusting the Democrats are legitimizing the lie, although we shouldn’t be surprised.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ferguson-the-play#/
In the wake of the Iraq War, Maureen Dowd coined the phrase “absolute moral authority” and attached it to any mother who lost a child. (She was speaking specifically about Cindy Sheehan.)
The problem is, of course, what happens domestically when ideologies collide? Which grieving mother gets the “absolute” imprimatur?
Both parties in the last week have trotted out their grieving families. Yesterday, Ambassador Chris Stevens’ mother asked the Trump campaign to stop “exploiting” her son’s death for political purposes. But what of Patricia Smith who lost her son in Benghazi? Why doesn’t she carry “absolute moral authority” in preventing the woman she sees responsible for her son’s death (and lying to her about it as well) to elevation to the Oval Office?
Does the DNC think police officers are hatched on a rock? They, too, have mothers, fathers, wives and children. Where is their claim to their “absolute moral authority?”
Mate De,
This all can be hashtagged under #factsdon’tmatter
There is nothing more disgusting about the Obama administration than when it went on inciting racial violence after the facts proved the incident in question to be nothing like the narrative portrayed by the agitators.
Regards,
Jim
The tactic comes down to presenting these people to criticize political opponents, while being immune to criticism. They can therefore get off a few “free shots.” In other words, it’s cheap.
Apparently, Democrats can’t take criticism, because they go to such extreme lengths to be protected from it. They want to say whatever they want, unopposed. They want to “drop the mic” after everything they say. They “warn” viewers when they mention criticisms against fellow liberals. They want to box in a ring where they’re the only ones who are allowed to throw punches.
There are several words that describe that cowardice, but the C-of-C won’t allow me to use them.
Well said, Tom.
Did Clinton invite any mothers of the policemen killed in the last year? Why not? Surely she could find one African-American mother of a policeman that was shot in the line of duty.
I’m generally a very calm individual, but I am also the son of a policeman, the brother of a policeman, the nephew of a policeman, the first cousin of a policeman, etc. I wanted to read this post, but it surely wasn’t easy to remain calm while doing so, and it took me a few tries.
The Democratic Party’s elevation of criminals as martyrs makes perfect since when they have elevated criminals to every office of the land and are once more attempting to do so, even at the Presidential level. It’s time to use RICO against the Democrats. It isn’t a political party, it’s a criminal conspiracy.
Oh, and from my brother’s FB feed:
You bigot! Everybody knows that it’s racist to look at and evaluate people as individuals, instead of instantly determining their guilt or innocence based upon the color of their skins…wait a minute.
Some girl’s mothers are bigger than other girl’s mothers.
I’ve read posts before on Ricochet by members saying they would not want their children to currently serve in the military, due to having no trust in our country’s leaders to protect them or not throw their lives away for political convenience. I think the same concern may apply to those serving in blue now.
Justice and decency left the Democrat Party a couple decades ago.
My brother is old enough and has enough years to retire, and he has been looking for another job to get out, take his retirement, and run.
It’s despicable that they take their heroes from the scummy bottom of the barrel, not only because these are not hero material, but also because of the damage it does to black youth. How are they supposed to process the sight of thugs (if I may use such a “racist” term) being elevated to special status in this manner?
I didn’t think any of these guys were from South Asia.
“Mothers of the Movement” is about right.
Black Lives Matter’s refusal to acknowledge that Michael Brown’s death may have been justified invalidates any other (possibly important) message they might have.
Brown’s death was deemed to be justifiable by Eric Holder’s Justice Department in an investigation whose sole purpose was obviously to incriminate Darren Wilson. If a thorough report by one of BLM’s strongest institutional champions isn’t enough for them to reconsider, then their movement is not worth the time of day.
And by association, the whole Democratic Party.
^Understatement. :)
It could have actually been a powerful moment to include the family of victims from the Dallas shootings with a (more select) group of mothers of police shooting victims. Tears of wishing no one looses a son to violence. Racial healing. Probably gun control.
But that isn’t really what their party wants.
One of the problems is that too many people, including politicians and celebrities, rushed to judgment and have skin in the game of the “Hands up, don’t shoot” narrative, so now they can’t back down without feeling they’ve lost face.
I’m so sorry. Where should I report for re-education?
What’s so sad is that most of those other women probably assumed that the lies about Michael Brown were true. So it would never cross their minds to have his mother leave the stage. Sigh.
That the Democratic Party had Mayor Stephanie “give them space to riot” Rawlings-Blake open the convention and lead the roll-call tells you everything that is wrong with the party.
They’re still mentally about 19 years old and in college, thinking they’re sticking it to The Man. It’s so pathetic and undignified when your man-ponytail is gray.
Thanks, Tom.
We were still on our way home from Baton Rouge when the “mothers of the movement” were having their say. Along with thousands of other law enforcement officers, we had attended three funerals including that held for Corporal Montrell Jackson.
The chief of Baton Rouge P.D. summed up the difference between a life that matters in the general sense—all lives matter, since we are all children of God—and a life that has been well-lived. The chief, his voice ragged with tears, said of Montrell: “He could have been whatever he wanted, and he chose to be a policeman. He chose to serve others, and he had it in his heart to protect.”
Montrell chose to marry his Tenisha, chose to welcome his “Super-Baby” Mason into the world, and chose to continue protecting and serving the people of Baton Rouge even when it was hard. Really, really hard—when, for example, #BLM protesters were screaming insults into his face, overtime shift after overtime shift, through this very hot Louisiana summer.
And then he chose to respond to a 911 call about a man with a gun, and he and two other Baton Rouge officers were murdered, very deliberately, specifically because they were among those who chose nobly—that is, they were police officers.
Montrell Jackson’s life really mattered —he took the gift of life from his loving God and chose to make something beautiful out of it. Thousands of police officers traveled to Baton Rouge to honor this man, our brother, but not for the way he died. We were there to honor how he had chosen to live.