"Squad" member Rep. Ilhan Omar took to Twitter last week to blast the police for the first fatal officer shooting in Minneapolis since the death of George Floyd in May.
"[The Minneapolis Police Department] is a joke," she wrote before saying police "terrorized" the dead man's family.
Omar's comments came the day after 23-year-old Dolal Idd was killed by police on Wednesday in the same neighborhood as Floyd. Major news outlets were quick to report on the killing, making sure to present Idd in a glowing light while demanding the hammer of justice fall on those brutal – and presumably white – officers who killed another innocent black man.
Take this article by the Minneapolis StarTribune as an example:
"It's been really hard losing him the way we lost him," Nima Ade said of her son, the fourth of 11 children. Ade's words were translated from Somali by her oldest child, 32-year-old Ikran Idd, who sat with her mother at the Irshad Islamic Center as dozens of women arrived to console and pray with Ade.
Hours before, Ade had kissed her son's forehead and said goodbye.
What journalism! The last sentence here in particular is meant to tug at our heartstrings. Look at how his mother adored him! Pay no attention to any prior criminal record or the actual chain of events – just look at how his family loved him!
Hundreds marched in the streets of Minneapolis on Sunday for Idd, demanding answers. Idd's own father said police killed him for "no reason."
"The police, they are brutality," he said to the media.
There's only one problem with all this emotional race-baiting:
Idd – a man with a criminal record (including illegal gun possession and theft) and a suspect in a felony gun investigation – fired at officers first.
Police released the body camera footage less than 24 hours after the shooting, first to Idd's family and then to the public. Take a look:
[Warning: Graphic]
These situations are never easy. I have never run across an officer who wants to choose between taking a life and letting trigger-happy criminals wantonly kill them, their partners, and innocent civilians.
Idd was boxed in at a gas station by multiple squad cars and had a female passenger in his vehicle. Despite the public location and the danger to the woman next to him, he thought ramming cars and an O.K. Corral shootout was a great idea.
The bodycam footage shows the glass in Idd's vehicle shatter outwards after a gunshot – something only possible if a gun was fired from the cabin of the vehicle itself.
Police fired a dozen shots in return, expertly taking down Idd without harming his passenger.
Still, protesters are saying that Idd shouldn't have been killed because "life is precious."
I would agree with the last assumption, and use it to flip the first. From what I see, Idd was killed because those officers believe life is precious – in this case, the lives of innocent bystanders over criminals who fire pistols recklessly through windows.
Let me be clear: I lament that this young man died. I have no joy at any news of death, even those who have rightly forfeited their right to life through violence and destruction. I can both lament that death and commend the bravery of the police who risked their own lives to uphold true justice by stopping a deadly act.
Like anyone, I don't have the full context. Those questions are for larger investigations and, if warranted, the courts. But that won't stop the media's glowing report of criminals to support their racist, race-baiting narratives, and it won't stop attention-seeking politicians like Omar that want to burn the system down and rebuild it in their image.
Here's the ultimatum:
Firebrand rhetoric from public servants like Omar is foolish and irresponsible at best, purposely malignant at worst. They, not these officers, are the ones who have a callous and reckless treatment of life.
Enough said.
