Before he received his just reward, Micah Johnson left no doubt about why he had gone on his killing spree in Dallas. Johnson wanted to kill white people, especially white officers, he told the police officers who were closing in on him.
Clearly, Johnson hated white people. He was driven by racism.
Johnson’s statement wasn’t good enough for President Obama, though. According to Obama, it is “very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter.”
Nonsense. One might discuss the origins of Johnson’s intense hatred for whites and whether mental illness contributed, as Obama seemed to suggest. But Johnson’s motive is clear. It’s as clear as Dylann Roof’s motive for killing blacks in Charleston, South Carolina — a motive no one had trouble untangling.
By making such a foolish statement, Obama loses credibility. He creates the impression that he’s glossing over obvious black racism, which ought to disqualify him from being taken seriously when he talks about race relations, and will disqualify him in the view of many whites. (This may be why the mainstream media doesn’t seem to be reporting Obama’s statement.)
Not to be outdone, Jeh Johnson, Obama’s head of DHS, stated today that “it’s still relatively early” to conclude that Micah Johnson’s shooting were a hate crime. CBS’s John Dickerson asked:
You said there’s no link to a terrorist organization here, but the shooting in Dallas was by any definition terrorism and a hate crime, wasn’t it.
Johnson replied:
Well, there’s still an investigation being conducted by the Dallas police department and the FBI supported by many resources from the local government and the federal government. So it’s still relatively early.
What does Johnson think will occur in the investigation to show that Johnson didn’t commit a hate crime? Will the “many resources” of the government put the killer back together again so he can take back his acknowledgment that he wanted to kill whites?
Jeh Johnson isn’t stupid and neither is President Obama. They deny the obvious because they are unwilling to speak honestly about race when black racism is involved.
I won’t try to untangle the motives behind this dishonesty. I do know this: racially motivated dishonesty by national leaders won’t improve race relations; it will only make them worse.
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