Editor,
The guest perspective by authors Watkins, Tuzman and Skelton “What’s changed since we marched for Black lives” in the June 10 edition of the Daily Journal is another example of folks with a narrow-minded, ideological viewpoint who then go hunting for statistics that they believe support their position.
They quote statistics showing that people of color are arrested more frequently than whites without acknowledging that they, in fact, may be committing more of the crimes. The only important statistic is whether, given the same level of criminal activity, are people of color treated differently than whites by the police. There is no mention of this in their piece. They complain about the police presence during the “peaceful” BLM marches without acknowledging that they may have been peaceful because of the police presence. They don’t mention how in Redwood City the police found a hatchet, a trunk full of weapons, and a pallet of rocks, and neutralized these potential problems to keep the gathering peaceful. They complain about armed police accompanying mental health workers. They ignore the fact that every year about 4,000 officers are injured or killed answering these calls. No sane mental health worker would walk into this type of situation until the police establish that it was safe for them to do so.
No one is denying that there are difficult issues to be discussed and that there is need for better relations between the police and the public, but let us remember that most police officers are proud professionals doing a difficult, dangerous job. It is not fair to use the actions of a few bad actors to discredit the entire profession.
Steven Howard
Redwood City
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(5) comments
Steven... thanks for your LTE
You closed your comments with, "It is not fair to use the actions of a few bad actors to discredit the entire profession." True. We should apply that same standard to all professions.
Thank you, Mr. Howard, for your letter. Of late there have been a number of letters reporting cherry-picked statistics to support a biased position, yet when readers push back by citing opposing statistics, all of a sudden, the conversation seems to drop off, or disappear.
Remember Terence that, if you disagree, you are now spewing hate or you are a racist, or both. I have to chuckle when the CRT issue comes up and ask my children at what time of the day they are oppressors and when do they switch to being oppressed. They are privileged, oppressed from my Dutch lineage but horribly oppressed because of their Mom who was born in El Salvador. Who is laughing now at this outrageous, idiotic, racist teaching in our schools?
Hi Dirk, very true, but that’s okay. I’ve been accused of just about everything under the sun and like Tom Petty’s song from Full Moon Fever, “I Won’t Back Down” from folks demonizing law enforcement, or folks perpetuating social justice garbage and divisiveness.
Over 99% of police officers are good people that save countless lives every year. Defunding the police endangers woman and children in the poorest neighborhoods.
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