It's no longer "Enough is enough!" It's "Too much is too much."
The horrors of the past few days in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas ring across America like the "fire bell in the night" that Thomas Jefferson said "awakened and filled [him] with terror" in 1820. He referred, of course, to the question of slavery and its expansion, and he feared that it might be "the [death] knell of the Union."
It is the legacy of slavery that threatens our Union still, and voices of extremism, hatred and violence that are heard across the internet and from some political and media quarters constitute a menace capable of destroying our nation.
We must find common ground. A substantial majority of Americans of all races, ethnicities, and religions condemn both police murders of black people and the murder of police.
Yet the horrifying violence of recent days has not led some to abandon their hate. Many are pointing fingers at President Obama and Black Lives Matter for their condemnation of police killings as what led to the Dallas shooting.
For example (and there are many others), former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) wrote in a tweet, later deleted, that Obama and Black Lives Matter protesters should "watch out" because "real America" is coming for them. Beyond its implicit threat of violence against the president and African Americans, he was indicating that black people are not part of "real America."
That is the same sort of outrageous talk that has led so many to hate the nation's first African American president and believe almost any nonsensical story about him.
What we absolutely DO NOT need is the totally irresponsible promotion of division and violence of the sort that appeared on the cover of Rupert Murdoch's New York Post today:
That despicable front page promotes exactly what terrified Jefferson in 1820. And it may be worth pointing out to the Post editors that one sniper does not constitute an army engaged in Civil War. They need to get a grip.
We also absolutely do not need the kind of outrageous statement that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made, accusing demonstrators of being "hypocrites" for "running the other way expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them" while they were protesting police violence.
The only sane response to that comment is: WTF? Lt. Gov. Patrick's statement is a perfect example of what we must not do: divide into camps that are either on the "side" of the police, no matter what they do, or on a "side" against the police.
Everyone needs to come together and condemn both police violence and violence against police.
It is important to note that the percentage of African Americans who would vocalize any support for the shooting of police officers in Dallas would round off to zero; yet a considerably higher percentage of whites are ready to back police even when they shoot black people without cause.
We need the police. Most police officers are good people performing a dangerous and absolutely necessary function for society. Some of them, however, do terrible things. We can--and must-- fully support the former while condemning the latter.
The police need to do the same. The "Thin Blue Line" that protects society cannot continue to protect bad cops. The police across the nation need to be willing to condemn the few among them who do the kinds of things that were done to Rodney King, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and many others.
If we can all unite in condemning both police violence and violence against police, we can silence that fire bell in the night that is currently filling us with terror and answer Rodney King's famous plea, "Can't we all just get along" with a resounding all-of-America, "Yes!".