I was glad to see a group of St Louis Rams players show solidarity with the peaceful protesters around the country who believe the grand jury's decision to not indict Darren a Wilson was a travesty. Now it looks like the St Louis Police Officers Association is acting more like "big government" thought police than a union. Why aren't the libertarians jumping up and down about this?
These NFL players expressed a valid constitutionally protected opinion in a non violent way. But the SLPOA is so thin skinned, so vindictive and so used to getting its way they are now actually trying to bully the NFL into apologizing for these players. But lets keep it 100% real here, they don't really want an apology, they want these guys punished. They want them silenced because they don't agree with them, and they are trying to get out in front of this to establish the narrative that everybody that disagrees with them are thugs and somehow these players were being "anti-police". If you aren't on their team then you are a thug. To them that means if they consider you are a thug and you defy them (the good guys) then basically you get what you deserve. If you get shot for non compliance so be it.
But what is a "thug" really?
What do people like Rudy Giuliani or Joe Scarborough mean when they say it? Is a thug a person that defies the law and doesn't respect authority? Well if that is the case some of the biggest criminals I know wear suits and ties and let other people do their dirty work for them. They definitely have no respect for authority and will do anything to get ahead. "Thugs" can be on a street corner or they can work in a bank in downtown Manhattan pulling down 200 million a year. So when they are lumping any form of dissent into the "thug" category what they are doing is taking their humanity away. What they are really saying is: "Hey guys we allow you to exist in our world, so you need to remember your place. If you work for us we will pay you, if you entertain us we will pay you even more, but if you don't agree and if you try and hold us accountable for our actions then we have a problem. So for your own good you just need to sit down and shut up and take what we give you."
If you really analyze it the statement that SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda released it was full of that same thug narrative. That statement was not just showing that they (the police) took offense to these players protesting, it showed that same contempt. Read between the lines in the statement and you will find a not so subtle threat; basically if you don't get your guys in line, we are not going to do our jobs and that is going to hurt your business.
"All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson.", The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization's displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be.
Take that in for a second.
Police officers aka "the state" wants to punish NFL players aka "private individuals" for having an opinion about an issue that they don't agree with. Really? That's where we are now? Ted Cruz and Rand Paul should be doing cartwheels. FOX news should be having a nightly meltdown. How many of these same guys in SLPOA have been all over social media calling liberals terrorists and this president illegitimate. How many times have we heard of someone in law enforcement advocating the violent overthrow of the government or worse "removal" of the president from office? I say that because I policed throughout the entire Bush presidency. I didn't vote for the man and thought the Iraq war was criminal. NEVER would I have said some of the vile stuff that I have seen and heard over the last 6 years but I still don't want to go after a persons livelihood for opinions that I don't agree with. Even given the horrible course of events that preceded this, I am really surprised that they went so hard on this. In any other scenario most supervisor's would not have even allowed a police chase for stealing cigarillos. Even in Ferguson. So for a pedestrian in the roadway stop to lead to a fleeing person being shot, there is something rotten in Missouri.
I honestly don't know how cops can continue to support this kind of behavior. I believe that crime is bad. Absolutely. But when it is committed under the color of law, now that's something altogether different. I just can't co-sign on a lying officer that chose to do a field interview from inside of his vehicle and then claims he was so "scared" that he shot an unarmed guy twice while he was still sitting in that vehicle. Nobody that I know of can reach inside of a drivers side window and "punch" somebody on the right side of their face unless they are in the matrix part 3 or we have started driving on the left side of the road. The last I checked, this ain't England. Wilson was either being lazy or a coward, maybe both. That's why in my opinion Wilson should be on bond waiting on his trial right now, not collecting 6 figures for doing talk shows.
Some of the rationale that people of all races are using to excuse this tragedy is just ridiculous. Somehow because black people kill other black people then that means that police should also be able to indiscriminately kill black people. So what? Most white people are killed by other white people. Does that mean that black officers should police predominately white communities differently and they get a free pass to kill them every time they feel like it? What about due process and equal protection under the law? Nobody wants to own up to the fact that this is a critical problem and it has everything to do with race. People of color ARE treated differently by law enforcement on every level. That fact can't be glossed over with BS rhetoric about how terrible crime in the black community is. Black on Black crime is a legitimate problem and we need political changes to address it, but when people are dying at the hands of police like this we need critical changes in policy.
We need those same folks who claim big government is coming to take their guns and make them get health insurance to honor their principles of holding government accountable. They should be marching hand in hand with the peaceful protesters in Ferguson and elsewhere demanding that the police be accountable.
I understand the police mentality so well. I understand why police everywhere are still covering for Wilson and others like him. That's why I'm not going to act like the SLPOA and pretend that officers don't have a right to support Wilson even in the face of all of these questionable facts. The thing is, I personally know better cops than Wilson who are sitting in prison right now for doing much less than he did so I can't stand up for his actions or blindly support him. I know what it is like to defend an officer just because they wear the badge even when they have made a mistake and done something terrible. I know how this story can end because I remember Neal Street.