Washington D.C. – The Black Lives Matter chapter in Washington D.C. expressed indignation that police officers who are shot in the line of duty are automatically treated as “heroes” after an officer was shot and wounded Sunday night in Washington D.C.
Fox News reported that as the scene was being investigated and a shooting suspect had not been captured, Black Lives Matter D.C. weighed in and warned others against the spread of “copaganda.” A term used when positive news is discussed about law enforcement.
“This is the point we’ve been making for months,” the group tweeted Sunday night. “Look at the reaction and coverage tonight. Tear jerker press conferences and proclamations of heroes coming soon. Imagine if people knew these folks’ names. Being Black in DC is more dangerous than any job.”
“This isn’t to say these scenarios represent what happened tonight, but it does explain our skepticism, interest in details, and highlights the difference in how people talk and act when an officer is hurt vs when they hurt a Black person. No one asks what the cop did wrong,” the group wrote.
A description of the #StopMPD campaign on the group’s website claims that D.C. is an “occupied police state” that was “never meant to protect” Black people.
“In the fight for Black lives, one of the many rebuffs we receive when demanding an end to police violence and terror is that ‘not all cops are bad cops,’” the page reads. “This assertion is almost always coupled with examples of law enforcement officials who step outside of their assigned duties to ‘help’ Black people and champions the belief that we can change systems by changing the individuals who work within this system, but not the system.
“We’ve seen time and again that doesn’t work,” it continues. “Policing and the system under which police work exists is bound to the enslavement, degradation, and murder of Black people and was never meant to protect us, but instead to exploit our bodies and labor to fill prisons and bolster capitalism. No amount of feel-good videos can deny that truth – no dancing, ice cream peddling, dance videos, BBQ eating COPAGANDA can change that.”
