Daily Kos: RichardHayward2

The Day The Klan Came To Clarkston, Washington

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Sunday November 20, 2016 · 8:57 AM PST

2016/11/20 · 08:57

Klansman, Daniel Scott from Yakima, Washington — Klansman, Daniel Scott of Yakima, Washington

On a cloudy cold evening we set off across the river to Lewiston, Idaho to take pictures of the lightning of the Christmas Lights, an annual event to kick off the Holidays. As we approached the Blue Bridge Mary and I noticed several men with signs and one with a megaphone yelling a message of some sort. Mary ever so quick with her camera snapped off several pictures as we drove by and I couldn’t help but notice the man pictured above wearing a hat with the KKK symbol on the front. Could this be true, do we have the KKK in our small little town? As we crossed the bridge we both looked at each other and said we have to turn around and go back and see just what is going on in our community. As we were going back I couldn’t believe what I was seeing especially in light of our rally this past Summer denouncing violence. As we returned back our greatest fears were realized, yes he is wearing a Klan hat. The man with the megaphone, later identified as Andrew Brown, the organizer, of Clarkston was proclaiming, “Hate crime for one, hate crime for all, equal justice under the law!” One of the other men appeared to be in black face and wearing a hoodie to complete his racist slur, his sign read, “White Lives Matter! Stop Black on White Violence!” We were relieved though to see our local Clarkston Police had a close eye on the situation and the good news we only saw five men participating. Like treating cancer, early detection is crucial. Yes this is bad news for sure, but in our early detection of this we can stop them before they metastasize in to something life threatening to our values. Our community needs to send a strong message that people that promote the values of the KKK are not welcome here and we do this by writing letters to our local paper in numbers that will make it clear, hate and violence not now, not here, not ever in Clarkston.

The System Is Corrupt

RichardHayward2

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Tuesday September 06, 2016 · 5:09 AM PDT

2016/09/06 · 05:09

There is a very unhealthy hatred for Senator Bernie Sanders within the leadership of the Asotin County Democrats. The hatred is so bad that the mere posting on the Asotin County Democratic Committee Facebook page of anything to do with Senator Sanders is grounds to try and have your election to PCO revoked. It apparently doesn’t matter if the post was a photo of Senator Sanders urging people to vote for a democratic House of Representatives and to unify the democratic party. I learned of this when I was shown two emails that were sent by Chairman Nick Fiore whereas Nick asks a party official, can an elected PCO be removed and have their access to Vote Builder revoked? The reasons for this was the Facebook posts. The problem for Chairman Nick Fiore is he sent his email to the wrong address and after learning this Nick emailed another letter asking the recipient not to disclose the contents to the person he was trying to remove. Fortunately the recipient forwarded this email to the person subjected to this attempted ouster otherwise we would have never know of this. I wrote an email in response to all of this to all PCO and leadership questioning this type unethical behavior and called for the resignation of our Chairman Nick Fiore. Soon I started receiving aggressive phone calls and texts from a committee person threatening me and stating it was,”quite inappropriate that you continue working on our party Facebook page.” This was in respond to my email exposing this unethical behavior. I even made a point in my email questioning if I would be next for raising these questions and sure enough I was. A recorded phone call from this person also will show just how aggressive, mean spirited and one sided this conversation was.

We were very honored to have Joe Pakootas who is running for Congress against Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Jennifer Goulet who is running for State Representative against Mary Dye to speak at our August 25th meeting. It should be known that the Asotin County Democrats supports both of these candidates. Both candidates mentioned Senator Bernie Sanders in their speeches and the importance of getting Bernie supporters involved and to elect democrats to congress. This so enraged one of our committee persons that it was characterized when Senator Sanders name was mentioned there were eye rolls and heavy sighs from the audience. I was there and that DID NOT happen. Pakootas and Goulet’s appearances and speeches were well received by the audience. This same person who so badly characterized our guest speakers then had the nerve to disrupt a parade in Walla Walla that Joe Pakootas was walking in, even to the point of getting angry with Joe Pakootas’s staff. The anger was again over Senator Sanders who isn’t even in the race anymore. All of this behavior is so childish and destructive to our candidates and is extremely embarrassing and humiliating to us volunteers. This will probably be my last post regarding the Asotin County Democrats as it’s very hard to volunteer in such a hostile environment. One thing is for sure is Senator Bernie Sanders was right, the system is corrupt.

Racism Through My Eyes

RichardHayward2

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Monday August 22, 2016 · 6:44 AM PDT

2016/08/22 · 06:44

Many of us remember the big events in our lives by remembering what we were doing at the time of that event. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated I was in school in the 3rd grade. I remember the principle coming in to our class and dismissing us and telling us to go home that our president had been shot. I remember the sadness that prevailed and seeing my Grandfather cry, this was the first time that I had ever seen a man openly weep. I didn't know anything about politics at that age and seeing this through a child's eyes was like seeing a family member had died. Since we were Catholic's at the time our family was very proud to have a Catholic president and he was very popular with my Mom, Grandmother and Grandfather. My dad voted for Nixon but even he seemed stunned over the assassination. Our family seemed to be glued to the television over the weeks to come watching Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, being assassinated himself on live television. We watched the funeral and I remember asking why the boots were in the stirrups backwards on the horse, my Grandfather explained that it was to honor our presidents death. I remember everyone crying when the slain presidents little boy saluted, it was just a very sad time.

The assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I also remember very vividly of where I was at that time but the mood and reaction was far different. I was eleven years old and it was in the evening hours and our family had gathered around the television to watch tv. I was laying on the floor watching when the tv program was interrupted with a news bulletin. The news bulletin announced that Martin Luther King had been shot. I was then startled by my dad who had jumped up from his chair and yelling a lot of disparaging words. The "N" word was used and my dad seemed to be over joyed with this news. My dad was so over joyed that he wanted to light off some fireworks in the front yard but my mom quickly talked him out of that. That was the night I think the foundation of bigotry became clear to me. I loved my dad and still do but at that time I so idolized him and when I saw that this made my dad so happy it was confusing to say the least. To somewhat understand this is to know that living in Miami at that this time period (the sixties) was culturally very different from now. Segregation was the law, separation of the races. If you ever saw the movie, "The Help" it portrayed exactly how I remember the South at that time. Everything and everyone lived separate lives. "Colored people" one of the terms used back then would have separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, schools and even movie theaters were segregated. Signs almost everywhere you looked designated the separation of the races. Like most communities they were divided by railroad tracks, "Colored people" living on one side and whites on the other. It was even unlawful for any African American to be on the white side of the tracks after sundown and it was unlawful for "mixed" dating. I can even remember a show, Star Trek and how it made the news and stirred up a big controversy, mainly in the South when the white actor, William Shatner kissed a black actress, Nichelle Nichols. Looking back then the world seemed so surreal now and makes me wonder how did humanity justify all of this. The road to break all of this up was a very turbulent time and to this day we still have remnants of systemic racism. Try to declare that Black Lives Matter and you literally can face death threats. My career in law enforcement exposed me to a nasty underbelly of racism that was diabolical and secretive. We still have this cancer in society and with the advent of cell phones with video cameras has exposed this beast. Yes we have come a long way from the old Jim Crow, but the underground racism is still alive and it's still very dangerous for our African American friends.

The good news is the racism that I was taught and exposed to was rejected and all that it implies. I will quickly call you out if you or anyone in my presence uses the "N" word or states anything racist. I still love and miss my dad he was a product of the times he lived in and the culture of the South. I know that that's not an excuse but I choose to share my story as a learning tool for breaking the teaching of racism. Your kids learn most of what they know from you and my parents showed me love and provided for me, I can only wish that my parents had showed love for humanity. We all have flaws, the trick is to learn from these experiences and make the adjustments in our lives to be better human being.

The Truth About The NRA

RichardHayward2

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Sunday August 21, 2016 · 2:27 PM PDT

2016/08/21 · 14:27

The N.R.A

Back in the days when I was a police officer working for the city of Ft. Lauderdale we had to qualify with our pistol annually and the N.R.A was the qualifying agent for our department. The N.R.A. had set the standards for police combat shooting and in fact set the standards for most departments for the State of Florida. My weapon was a Colt Python 357 magnum revolver, yes I am dating myself as an old-timer using a revolver instead of the semi-automatic pistols that the police carry today. Carrying a revolver back then was a lot more challenging then the firearms the police carry today. First of all, when you carry a revolver you are limited to just 6 shots at a time compared to 17 with a semi-automatic pistol. In our training we had to use "speed loaders" to reload and most officers carried two speed loaders, that's 18 rounds total. Today's police officer can carry up to 49 rounds, 17 rounds in a loaded firearm and 32 rounds in two magazines. It required some skills under combat simulations to reload quickly with a revolver. Part of the combat course was that we had to run (timed) around the shooting course and then take up a position to shoot at a silhouette target. The running was to simulate the stress of a shootout with rapid heart rate and breathing, of course this made it a lot harder to shoot accurately. We would have to shoot right hand barricade, 6 shots, reload, shoot left hand barricade, 6 shots, reload and then shoot 6 more kneeling. All of this was timed. This was a lot more challenging then the qualifying I had done previously in the U.S. Army as a military policeman and I qualified, "Expert" then. I took my shooting skills very seriously as they were important tools in my line of work and would later save my life and the life of others. To become a "Master Shooter" you had to qualify on the N.R.A police combat course with a score of 97 out of 100 three times in a row. I became a "Master Shooter" for the City of Ft. Lauderdale Police Department.

I joined the N.R.A. and proudly displayed my membership sticker on my vehicle. I always felt that the N.R.A stood by law enforcement and provided firearm safety education for citizen's and young people. My training came in to play on July 14th, 1985 when I drove up on a situation of a man holding a Ruger 44 magnum pistol pointing it at the head of a women. The bad guy saw me and took a shot at me, my police training kicked in and I returned fire striking his firearm and knocking it out of his hand. Now I wish I could say that I aimed at his pistol but I actually was aiming at his chest trying to kill him, lucky for him my angle was such that his pistol was in front stopping the bullet from hitting him.This would be one of several shootouts in my career that I would be involved in and I was always grateful for my training that the N.R.A. was apart of. Then around 1995 Wayne LaPeierre of the N.R.A. made the following statement in a solicitation letter:

"If you have a badge, you have the government's go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens." The letter signed by, N.R.A. Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and went on to state, "Not too long ago, it was unthinkable for federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens”. Wayne LaPierre went on to use the term, "Jack-Booted Government Thugs" in describing federal A.T.F. officers. Another N.R.A. member who just happened to be the President of the United States at the time, George H. Bush, resigned his lifetime membership to the N.R.A. stating, "Your broadside against federal agents deeply offends my own sense of decency and honor, and it offends my concept of service to country,
"Bush wrote to NRA president Thomas Washington in a letter. "It indirectly slurs a wide array of government law-enforcement officials, who are out there, day and night, laying their lives on the line for all of us."

I too felt the same way and never renewed my N.R.A. membership. Since this time I have learned that the N.R.A. is nothing more then an advocate for the firearm industry and this can be proven by the fact that Mr. Wayne LaPierre went on record before a House Committee stating that he and the N.R.A. were in favor of comprehensive background checks for the purchase of firearms only to now be against comprehensive background checks to purchase a firearm. LaPierre's past thoughts and statements are a threat to all law enforcement officers and provoke this anti American government fever to take arms up against our government. The only "Jack Booted Thug" I see, is Wayne LaPierre...

Joe Pakootas An Inspiration To Many

RichardHayward2

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Sunday August 21, 2016 · 1:41 PM PDT

2016/08/21 · 13:41

Joe Pakootas comes from very humble roots. He was born on the reservation and became a ward of the state. Joe and six of his siblings were sent to live with a foster family. Joe has seen first hand the devastation of alcoholism. He very well could have taken that path but he endeavored and chose not to. To this day Joe wears a pendant around his neck based on a James Earle Foster sculpture of the plains Native American slumped in the saddle. He doesn’t wear this out of any stylish fashion but because it reminds him of his deceased brother who admired this artwork. Joe will tell you that his brothers death is always with him. Joe also wears a bracelet as well on his wrist as a painful reminder of his 6 year old niece who lost her battle with aplastic anemia.

Joe persevered and became a very successful businessman. He enriched others on the way encouraging education and entrepreneurship.

Joe’s life is truly an American story, a story of a shinning example to those who are born in to uncertain lives. Joe walks the walk in diversity bridging two cultures by highlighting our common good and decency. I personally believe if Joe Pakootas is elected as our Congressman, he will be a great leader in healing America’s divide. We need a Captain Sully, a Jimmy Stewart, a Chief Joseph, and we would get them in Joe Pakootas. My vote is for Joe Pakootas.

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