Inquirer editorial: Opportunity missed to say all lives matter

The Democratic National Convention missed an opportunity to present a powerful, unifying image when it didn't put family members of slain police officers on stage with the mothers of those killed by officers. That would not have diminished the message that racial bias exists in policing, just as it does in other aspects of American life, and that people have died as a result.

Nine "Mothers of the Movement" were introduced at the convention Tuesday night, including Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, who was strangled by a police officer in Staten Island, N.Y.; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton, who was shot 14 times by Milwaukee police; and Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo.

John McNesby, the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 in Philadelphia, had criticized the omission. "We will not soon forget that the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton are excluding the widows and other family members of police officers killed in the line of duty, who were victims of explicit and not implied racism," he said.

At least one victim in the Baton Rouge, La., attack that left three officers dead was black, so McNesby's charge of "explicit" racism may not be accurate. But it is true that the victims in Baton Rouge and Dallas, where five officers were slain, were targeted in apparent retaliation for the deaths of African Americans in police custody. The families of those officers deserve recognition for the sacrifice their loved ones made in serving the public.

But it is not "pandering," as McNesby put it, to also place a spotlight on the aberrant behavior of a distinct minority of officers, which no police department should tolerate. The Mothers of the Movement appeared at the Democratic convention to do that.

"I lived in fear my son would die like this," said Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, who was shot by a man who objected to the loud music the 17-year-old was playing in his car. "I even warned him that because he was a young, black man, he would meet people who didn't value his life. That is a conversation no parent should ever have to have."

There should be no disagreement that all lives matter, but it's difficult to get that message across amid confrontations that leave people angry and less willing to listen. A chance was missed at the Democratic convention to move the conversation forward, but there will be others.