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Blaming The Bronx Shooting On Black Lives Matter Is Just So Incredibly Wrong

by Casey Suglia

During a time in the United States when tensions are high and tragedies keep on happening, it is easy for people to want a scapegoat for the issues that keep arising. When people are watching these tragedies occur, it is easy to put the blame on others. But blaming the Bronx shooting on Black Lives Matter is so incredibly wrong for so many different reasons.

First, a little background on the police shooting that occurred in the New York City borough of the Bronx around 3 p.m. on Friday. According to CNN, around 2:45 p.m. the suspect's child's mother called police to say the suspect had broken into her apartment and held her hostage for four hours, according to The Wall Street Journal. Police officers then pursued suspect who fled in a red Jeep. Shortly after the pursuit began, according to CNN, the suspect then emerged from the vehicle with a gun and started shooting at the officers, killing one and injuring another. During the exchange, the police ended up killing the suspect — 35-year-old Manuel Rosales.

It is true — the shooting is incredibly tragic and heartbreaking — and it is hard to believe that one man would want to shoot at innocent police officers without motive. However, placing the blame on Black Lives Matter for the motivations of this crime is just as bad. Aside from his name, there is not much we know about the suspect. Tying the suspect to the organization and blaming Black Lives Matter without any proof is wrong and premature.

But Black Lives Matter does not promote violence — in fact, it does the opposite. According to the Black Lives Matter website, the Black Lives Matter network "advocates for dignity, justice, and respect...black activists have called for an end to the violence, not an escalation of it."

Furthermore, the movement does not call for people to hate police officers. According to the Black Lives Matter website:

Police officers are people. Their lives have inherent value. This movement is not an anti-people movement; therefore it is not an anti-police officer movement. Most police officers are just everyday people who want to do their jobs, make a living for their families, and come home safely at the end of their shift...the Black Lives Matter movement is not trying to make the world unsafe for police officers; it hopes to make police officers less of a threat to communities of color.

Blaming Black Lives Matter for the shooting of two police officers in the Bronx is incredibly wrong and kind of racist. Gun violence and violence against police officers existed before the movement's start. Bad people who commit crimes like the one in Bronx exist in this world — and they don't have to be motivated by any movement for their crime.

In tragedies like these, there is no one to blame — whether it be a politician or members of a civil rights movements — other than the reported suspect of the crime. What happened on Friday in the Bronx is tragic — but race and Black Lives Matter is not to blame.