All police shootings are local

J. PHARAOH DOSS
J. PHARAOH DOSS

In the 1980’s speaker of the house Tip O’Neil always emphasized “all politics is local”.  In other words, the hierarchy of problem solving for the citizen is local, state, federal.
He’s right.
One problem, nothing has been more oppressive for Black Americans than this hierarchy.  Black Americans had to appeal to the federal government to declare local and state laws unconstitutional.
That’s history.
And based on that history President Barack Obama said racism is in the DNA of America, but is it possible the byproduct of that DNA is that Black Americans automatically indict the nation for local incidents?
Example:
Back during the 2000 Presidential Race civil rights advocates made racial profiling, or Driving-While-Black, a national issue.  These advocates asked candidates if they were elected president, would they sign an executive order banning racial profiling.   Candidates either made a campaign commitment to consider the possibility or they promised, like George W. Bush, that as president they would end the practice.

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