Human Right "new equilibrium": the US Racialism

reuters: A black U.S. military veteran of the Afghan war who said he wanted to "kill white people" opened fire in a sniper attack in which five police officers were slain at a protest decrying police shootings of black men, officials said on Friday.

Seven other police officers and two civilians were wounded in the ambush in downtown Dallas on Thursday night, officials said. Police killed the gunman, identified by a U.S. government source as Micah Xavier Johnson, with a bomb-carrying robot after cornering him in a parking lot, ending an hours-long standoff.

The sound of gunfire sent a panicked crowd of hundreds of protesters screaming and running for their lives near the end of a march to protest police killings of black men this week in Minnesota and Louisiana. Police officers patrolling the demonstration at the time believed they were under attack by several gunmen.

Three other people were detained by police, and authorities have not publicly ruled out that other shooters were involved. Several U.S. media outlets, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, reported investigators now believed Johnson worked alone in carrying out the attack.

The Louisiana and Minnesota shootings, both the subject of federal investigations, were the latest in a series of similar incidents that have triggered protests over police use of force against black suspects and racial disparities in the American criminal justice system.

The march was affiliated with Black Lives Matter, a decentralized movement that arose after the series of police killings to protest the treatment of black people by U.S. law enforcement.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown called the incident "a well-planned, well-thought-out, evil tragedy," adding, "We are determined to not let this person steal this democracy from us."

During lengthy negotiations with police, the gunman told reporters he was angry about the Louisiana and Minnesota killings, Brown told reporters.

"The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers," said Brown, who is black.

Some details began to emerge about Johnson, who public records indicated lived in Mesquite, a Dallas suburb. He posted a rant against white people on a black nationalist Facebook group called Black Panther Party Mississippi last Saturday, denouncing the lynching and brutalizing of black people.

DALLAS, KOMPAS.com - Sejumlah media AS, Jumat (8/7/2016), menyebut tersangka pelaku penembakan polisi di Dallas yang menewaskan lima orang polisi adalah Micah Johnson (25) warga negara bagian Texas.

Johnson tinggal di Mesquite, pinggiran kota Dallas, seperti diberikatan CBS News dan NBC News. Dia tewas setelah terkepung selama beberapa jam.

Sebelumnya, kepala kepolisian Dallas David Brown menyampaikan kata-kata terakhir pria yang menembak mati lima petugas polisi pada Jumat (8/7/2016) pagi.

"Tersangka mengatakan dia kecewa dengan Black Lives Matter, kasus penembakan oleh polisi, kecewa dengan orang kulit putih dan ingin membunuh orang kulit putih, terutama polisi kulit putih," kata Brown.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) yang dimaksud adalah sebuah gerakan internasional yang berasal dari komunitas warga Afrika-Amerika yang mengkampanyekan keadilan untuk warga AS berkulit hitam.

BLM secara reguler menggelar aksi protes terkait kematian warga kulit hitam khususnya yang diakibatkan oleh penegak hukum.

BLM juga memperjuangkan isu yang lebih besar yaitu profiling rasial, kebrutalan polisi dan sistem hukum AS yang dinilai sangat rasialis.

David Brown menambahkan, sejumlah laporan yang beredar bahwa tersangka bunuh diri adalah tidak akurat.

"Dia tewas karena ledakan bom," ujar Brown.

Bom itu, kata Brown, diluncurkan pada sebuah robot, diledakkan setelah pengepungan tersangka berlangsung hingga beberapa jam.

"Dia sangat marah. Dia menginginkan untuk membunuh polisi kulit putih. Dia marah untuk Black Lives Matter," kata Brown.

Brown melanjutkan, tersangka mengaku dia tidak tergabung dalam kelompok apapun. Meski demikian hal itu tidak menutup kemungkinan tak ada tersangka lain.

Sementara itu, wali kota Dallas Mike Rawlings mengatakan, identitas tersangka tidak akan dipublikasikan selama investigasi kriminal masih berlangsung.

Tersangka, yang berkulit hitam, menembak sejumlah polisi yang mengamankan unjuk rasa Black Lives Matter. Dia bersembunyi di antara pilar gedung dan menembak dalam sebuah serangan yang terencana dengan baik.

Aksi protes BLM ini digelar terkait tewasnya dua pria kulit hitam Alton Sterling dan Philando Castile di tangan petugas polisi.

amnesty international: 

U.S. Training of Foreign Police and Soldiers

One of the purported benefits of this training is that it instills respect for human rights and democratic institutions. Yet the vast majority of U.S.-administered training courses do not include specific instruction in the human rights or humanitarian law obligations that soldiers must obey. Unfortunately, many of the government forces the U.S. has trained have poor human rights records.

• Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. It is vital that the U.S. military mainstream human rights and humanitarian law into all foreign military and police training. Such instruction should be mandatory for all U.S. and foreign trainees attending courses, and it should be reinforced through operational exercises.
• The Training Schools. The United States trains at least 100,000 foreign soldiers and police from more than 150 countries each year at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Tens of thousands study in the United States at the approximately 275 known military schools and installations that provide training; the United States trains many more in their own nations through a variety of programs.
• The U.S. Military: Who, Where and What Are They Teaching? It's hard to know what kinds of skills and tactics are being conveyed to which foreign soldiers at the hundreds of military training schools within the United States, but it's practically impossible to monitor U.S. military training activities abroad. An estimated half of all U.S. training of foreign troops takes place overseas, with U.S. soldiers training foreign troops from at least 150 countries annually.

amnesty international: Amnesty International USA Statement on Shootings in Dallas

“Last night’s shootings are a devastating reminder that gun violence in the U.S. is a human rights crisis that impacts everyone. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families,” said Margaret Huang, Amnesty International USA interim executive director. “Killings both by and of police demand justice. The right to life is universal and everyone – both civilians and officers alike – should be able live free from fear and feel safe in their communities."
“We must remember that the public’s response to the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Jerry Williams have been overwhelmingly peaceful. Last night’s tragedy should not affect the ability and the safety of those who will continue to exercise their right to protest peacefully. We call on law enforcement officers to facilitate that right.”