If 'All Lives Matter,' Show That You Mean It

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on Jul 10, 2016

Castile was a licensed gun carrier, according to Diamond, and alerted the officer in advance that he had a gun on his person as he reached for his wallet. Where, I wonder, is the National Rifle Association when a gun owner like Castile has his concealed-carry rights violated?

The news turned even more tragic during nationwide protests on Thursday night. A peaceful Dallas protest march turned violent. Sniper fire killed five police officers and wounded seven more, police said. Two civilians also were wounded. Two suspects were taken into custody and a third was killed by police.

Ironically, earlier in the day, President Barack Obama told reporters in Warsaw that the shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota were "symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system."

He cited statistics that showed that blacks and Hispanic Americans were far more likely to be arrested and shot by police and, once charged, to receive longer sentences for the same crimes.

When people feel they have been treated unfairly and don't trust the police, the president said, it makes the job harder for "those law enforcement officers who are doing a great job, and are doing the right thing."

So, when people say "black lives matter," he said, "it doesn't mean 'blue lives' don't matter, it just means all lives matter."

Indeed, President Obama could have mentioned a recent case that most major media overlooked. Video shows Dylan Noble, an unarmed 19-year-old Fresno teen, was fatally shot June 25 by police as he was lying on the ground after a traffic stop for speeding, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Release of the video led to a large protest vigil. Mourners, not too surprisingly, planted protest signs. Appropriately, they read, "White Lives Matter."

Indeed, they do. So do the lives of people of color -- and police lives, too. The Dallas massacre of innocent police officers hurts everyone. So do misbehaving cops who make it harder for honest cops to do their jobs properly. Those of us who truly believe that "all lives matter" need to elect leaders who can put some action behind those words.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)