The journalist Charles M. Blow, like many others, wrote his own article about the shooting of Deputy Darren H. Goforth. His article mainly consisted of whether or not this crime was connected to the group “Black Lives Matter.” He thoroughly explained how he not only believed that the group had no connection to this incident, but wasn’t connected to any police hate-crime at all. The "Black Lives Matter" group has been associated as a hate group by many, and their connections to crimes such as these are questionable. However, Charles Blow makes an excellent point that they have no connection to this specific crime at all.
The only thing that makes anybody associate this crime to the group was the Sheriffs Hickman’s words, “At any point when the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, coldblooded assassinations of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control. We’ve heard ‘black lives matter.’ All lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too. So why don’t we just drop the qualifier and just say ‘lives matter,’ and take that to the bank.” Beyond his accusation that Deputy Gorforth was targeted because his was in uniform, there isn’t any evidence of that claim either. The Sheriff’s statement makes matters worse as he accuses the group “Black Lives Matter” for killing Deputy Goforth.
Many others who also wrote about this tragic event only mentioned the Sheriff’s words and beyond the quote didn’t mention the group after, such as an article written by Manny Fernandez and David Montgomery. In fact, an article by Tom Cleary claims that Shannon J. Miles, the killer, worked completely alone having no affiliation with the group or Deputy Goforth. The same article claims it was a random and unprovoked attack, showing that some don’t believe that the Deputy was even targeted for being in uniform.
The lack of evidence makes the connection between the group and the shooting highly unlikely. However, until police can figure out the motive of the killer, we have no possibility of knowing completely. I personally doubt the group would have any direct relationship with the man; if the two were connected, it would be a distant connection or possibly Miles was "inspired" by the group.
By Jett
Citations:
Charles M. Blow’s original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/opinion/charles-blow-ratcheting-up-the-rhetoric.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fcharles-m-blow&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&contentPlacement=1&pg
Manny Fernandez and David Montgomery’s article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/us/shooting-of-texas-deputy-is-called-coldblooded-execution.html
Tom Cleary’s article: http://heavy.com/news/2015/08/darren-goforth-harris-county-texas-deputy-sheriff-killed-dead-fatally-shot-assassinated-gas-station-ambushed-photos-video-age-family-children-wife-officer/
Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fibonacciblue/17130711447