Violence against police: the widows speak
Adelaide Laurie is the widow of police officer Rocco Laurie, assassinated in a 1972 ambush along with partner Gregory Foster (I wrote about the incident here). As far as I can tell she has never remarried, although she and her husband had only been wed a short while when he was killed, and she was achingly young at the time (as was he).
Ms. Laurie has some thoughts on the murder of officers Ramos and Liu:
“It’s kind of the same thing back in the day when Mayor (John V.) Lindsay was the mayor. The cops back then, they didn’t care for Lindsay and they thought that he was not supporting them,” Mrs. Laurie said. “Back when my husband was killed, I specifically said I did not want Mayor Lindsay to attend.”
Lindsay, who pushed to place members of the general public on the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, and formed the Knapp Commission to investigate police corruption, also drew the ire of the NYPD rank and file.
Although it’s been over forty years since her husband’s murder, it is still very fresh in Adelaide Laurie’s mind:
I’m still in shock. I’m just devastated. With everything going on in the city, it’s taking me back to the 70s when things were so bad,” she recounted. “It was really a rough time in the city, when cops were being targeted. They were being maligned and mistreated, really like what’s going on today. The memories just, they never go away, and the pain is always there, but when something like this happens, you just relive it.”…
“I’m just broken-hearted for the families. I know what they’re going to go through,” Mrs. Laurie said. “Your life is altered, and it’s never gonna be the same…. I know that police Officer Liu was only married a short time, just a couple of months. Rocco and I were only married about two years when this happened, so we were kind of like newlyweds also, so it’s really a bad time for his widow.”
There are some wounds that never heal.
Foster, who was black, and Laurie, who was white, were apparently targeted because of the interracial aspects of their partnership:
Two days [after their murder], police received a hand-printed letter signed by the BLA, a violent militant group which targeted and assassinated police officers across the country, claiming responsibility for killing Laurie and Foster.
“They were targeting what they called the ‘salt-and-pepper,’ the black and white teams, and they didn’t like that, that the blacks and whites were working together,” Mrs. Laurie said.
There had been an ambush of a similarly interracial team the previous year, apparently committed by the same group.
The interracial aspect of the Ramos/Liu team hasn’t been much remarked on, and I have no idea whether it played into the motives of their killer. But it’s something to think about as a possibility.
Here’s a heartrending account of the families of Liu and Ramos, as well as the sympathy shown them by the daughter of Eric Garner. At the link is a video of Liu’s widow speaking.
One interesting sideline to the tragedy is the prominence of Staten Island in all these stories. It’s by far the smallest New York City borough in population, but is home to many police officers and firefighters, and suffered the highest per capita number of casualties in 9/11. Rocco Laurie was a native Staten Islander, and Liu had attended college there, whereas Ramos’ elder son had graduated from Staten Island Academy despite living in Brooklyn. And in a particularly strange irony, Ramos— prior to becoming a police officer three years ago—had worked as part of the security detail at Police Officer Rocco Laurie Intermediate School on Staten Island, named for Adelaide Laurie’s husband.
[ADDENDUM: It’s not just the widows and children and parents of the victims who are distraught. Brinsley’s motheris grieving too, and expresses condolences for the men he shot. The other day I discussed whether Brinsley had any sort of mental illness, and his mother’s report, if accurate, indicates he may have, because she says he had been institutionalized for a while in the past, and tried to kill himself at the age of 13. I repeat what I’ve said before, which is that mentally ill people are hardly immune to inflammatory rhetoric that can help spark them into action.
And this seems a tragic case of a good intention on the part of Brinsley’s ex-girlfriend that had very bad consequences:
Hours before an increasingly disturbed drifter executed two city cops in cold blood, he confronted his ex-girlfriend and threatened to kill himself ”” before she talked him out of it and took a bullet herself.
One can certainly wish she hadn’t succeeded in talking him out of it. It is not at all unusual, by the way, for homicidal people to also be suicidal at the same time.]
Not unrelated, but I wasn’t too make a pitch this season to support Concerns of Police Survivors, a non profit that helps the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. I wrote the following over at Bookworm Room:
Just want to suggest one I support: Concerns of Police Survivors. They score well at Charity Navigator. They help the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. They do fantastic things for their children, and also for spouses, or parents, they have left behind. Every year, they are an incredible force at National Police Week in May, and are more involved than FOP in making sure survivors are watched out for, and officers who lost their lives are honored.
http://www.nationalcops.org
And Brinsley did eventually kill himself. He just was a gutless loser who had to kill innocent people first.
You know, the single bright spot that I contemplated when Obama was elected the first time was that maybe we would now get to the end of Amerikkka as the MOST RACAAAAASIST nation ever meme. I did have something of a hope that were at last reconciled, that the civil rights wars were over, that charlatans like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would no longer have a ready pulpit … in spite of being aware of the sermons preached by the disgusting so-called reverend Wright. (Lower-case r is deliberate, BTW.)
Six years ago I would have been insulted, hurt and indignant at being accused of racism. Now, I consider the source and don’t give a particular s*it. Thanks, Obama!
Your post is spot on about the grief the families of police are feeling.
The flashback that Mrs. Laurie is feeling is pretty typical of those who have lost a loved one/family member to violence. You think you have put the loss in the past and then some new death triggers all the feelings again.
People who love policemen, firemen, and the military have to have courage and resolve. They are the ones who are left with grief that is slow to resolve and all too quick to reappear when new deaths happen.
Much of what has happened since the Michael Brown shooting has certainly triggered memories of those bad days of the late 60s and early 70s. The atmosphere seems just as poisonous. Except that we now have national leaders like Obama and Holder who are fanning the flames rather than trying to cool things down.
Thanks for the mention of Concerns of Police Survivors. I, for one, want to reach out to the police and this is a good way to do it.
The video of Liu’s very young widow speaking through tears as a distraught Asian man holds her shoulder and a weeping Asian woman wipes her tears (her parents? his parents?) is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen.
Garner’s daughter deserves honor for visiting the memorial and speaking so compassionately of the slain cops. Between her actions and the comments of his widow declining to attribute Garner’s death to racism and pointing out that his faults contributed to his death — while not necessarily exculpating the police — I have to say that his family has shown balance, decency and class in the most trying of times. I admire them.
Thanks to Lee for mentioning Concerns of Police Survivors.
It really isn’t surprising to me that the families involved (the 2 officer’s and Garner’s) have shown more class than Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, and the Mayor combined.
And, I agree, Mrs Whatsit, Garner’s daughter deserves a lot of credit for her actions.
I do believe that his family’s words are helping to keep some of the racial animosity from exploding more than it already has.
Also, for the one officer’s widow to, in one sense, reach out publicly to the other’s family is truly touching to me.
I think many of us are missing the boat here in terms of understanding what’s afoot.This is not about racism against blacks. This is something bigger, using racism as an excuse, as a motivator and mobilizer. There have been lots of white faces in the mobs throughout these “protests.” There were credible reports of lots of middle-age whites in the Ferguson “organization” get-togethers. Middle-aged! I suspect the anti-globalization forces and the OWS forces are both involved.The usual suspects, in fact, though nothing against them is ever done.
We are seeing a deliberate deconstruction of civility not experienced since the late 1960s, and now, as then, the empowered politicians stand on the sidelines in their passive participation.
Mrs Whatsit @ 7:14 PM —
Wonderful post.
The Garners do capture the best spirit. God bless them and love them (said by an agnostic but truly meant).
I have not seen a single discussion about what is really happening, although the Garners’ pov reflect the reality.
The Left is more than one step ahead. They are not playing chess, but they are fully playing the cunning manipulation (often brilliantly, in the Hitlerian and Maoist sense we supposedly are all too sophisticated to fall for) of the sociopath.
(OT: Please look at the utterly brilliant minds of the non-Left who used to be part of the Left. THEY got us into this. Now think of the many brilliant minds STILL on the Left. Thank God for William Buckley and Ayn Rand for rescuing a few non-Left minds from the 60’s onward).
Utter confusion reigns, which is what the Left has wrought.
The confusion leaves the Left as the detached party, and I am not talking about the myrmidons of the Left, the clueless Sharptonesque rabble of which there are many both privileged and not. I am talking about the finally now familiar march through the Institutions of Influence, plus a lot more.
Folks who try to delineate (an ugly word) announce a blind spot.
For instance, nihilism means kicking the barn down. It is easier, it is so so satisfying, it “accomplishes” something, it is fun and sexy, it works with no penalty if done right.
Our side tediously and pointlessly tries to define nihilism while the barn is ruined. Just read “The Possessed”? Nah.
The Left got it. They saw.
The Left over-played their hand on Law and Order in the 60’s 70’s 80’s. Folks do not know or remember how pervasive and seemingly truthful (often in absurd defiance of easily established fact) the “I am black” card was played.
Lawyers without specific experience, in particular, don’t know.
The Left lost big time by overplaying their hand. Folks were actually getting truly raped, robbed, murdered, burglarized, and society really did not care about the irrelevant attributes of the perpetrator.
The Left caught on. Read the history of Hitler, Mao, and other Leftists to see how it is done. It is not hard for those inclined to nihilism, cunning and manipulation. Their greatest gift is those who try to parse nihilism.
The Left in America adroitly adjusted to an agenda of questions: do you favor child abuse, rape, dirty environment, men beating women, cruelty to animals, drunks killing innocents, icky tobacco, etc.
And non-Leftists said: NO! WE ARE TOTALLY ON BOARD WITH YOUR STONE-CASTING AGENDA!
The zero tolerance, categorical agenda is the Leftist agenda. It appeals to small nihilist minds.
Very nice post. Thank you. I’m retired military and have fair number of relatives in law enforcement, and appreciate efforts to support each.
My only quibble is the impression given by Mrs. Laurie concerning placing civilians on a Civilian Complaint Review Board. Without knowing the specific details of Lindsay’s actions, I think that, as a general rule, having non-law-enforcement citizens on a board reviewing complaints should improve police-community relatioins. (I think the board members should also be required to go on patrol with officers at least monthly, but that’s another issue.)
Ultimately, under American political philosophy, the police are designate agents for the people and, as such, are responsible to the people for their actions. How best to do that is, of course, open to discussion and debate, but ultimately that responsibility can be enforced in a court of law. I think that having more non-LE and supportive people interacting with LE officers would greatly reduce the number of cases that eventually do get decided by the court system.
I have been bringing up what the news has not been… and other than myself posting the black on white attacks which have now increased to revenge attacks for garner et al, and setting people on fire.
why wait till you have a roaring blaze when it could have been a topic when its was just 30 to 1 event?
its ridiculous that from before trayvon, to now, been posting who been attacked, murdered, tortured… and to no real discussion, other than if it was a black thug being killed by some other person.. now its black thugs killing cops, with a dash of islam.
well since those cops were killed, the colors of our leaders attempting to foment lock down through civil wars, protests, riots, etc… (and external war through disarming etc)
what else has gone on?
well a riot over a black thug who drew a gun on two cops one killed the man who drew the gun – not far from Ferguson.
two whites killed one by hammer attack in Ferguson. Zemir Begic died
African American correction officers brutally beat white inmate in Manhattan courthouse: suit / Joseph Haggerty’s $10 million lawsuit claims that the officers broke two of his ribs and punctured a lung in ‘retaliation for the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases.’
Gang of Black Teens Beats White Memphis Grocery Store Employee into Unconsciousness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDRimco4H4E
White Vacationers Attacked by Black Mob
Black mob attacks random white people inside a McDonalds. Media calls in a prank.
White Marine Beaten by Black Mob in Michael Brown ‘Revenge’ Attack / Police refuse to treat incident as a hate crime
here is a real good one!!!
Black Man Attacks Blinde White Women
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJE6QpFbbNU
Black man savagely beats and robs white woman; Attack caught on nanny cam (video) » black man beats white woman [it was a push in home robbery]
acist black men attack white woman for being white
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ff_1380594232
Black man attacks random white people on NYC subway platform
Black man attacks ‘white cracker’ on NYC bus
Passenger punched so hard bones in face shattered
http://nypost.com/2013/09/09/bus-riders-face-smashed-in-during-hate-attack/
if you go back and start the clock at obama election… you can find hundreds of incidents
sorry its so long… but it only scratches the surface…
good reporting from the news… hiding the actions of one side, so that the other side thinks a certain way.
i pointed out this common communist practice… as push pop
you suppress one side, while fomenting the other side.
eventually, it results in what you see now happening.
the process has and is used in feminism against white males
its used in schools against chinese, jews, and white males
its used in the news as to who is attacking whom and at what rate
but now, the stories established…
not anything one can do as there are thousands of people out there who believe wrongly, and will act on it in the next 10 years.
Don Carlos; Tonawanda:
I agree that that the left is highly involved here in what used to be called “outside agitation.” Also inside agitation. Agitation of all kinds.
Agent provocateurs