Hello, readers,
What a beautiful spring we’ve had! Here in coastal Alabama, red-buds have burst forth, azaleas are blooming in profusion, and our irises are showing off their colors.
Too bad that this lovely season is marred by journalists who no longer feel the need for objectivity (for readers from other countries, this means writing just the facts, and avoiding inserting their opinions). In reading today’s newspaper, one so-called “journalist” wrote about the death of a Black man at the hands of a police officer (the officer claimed it was an accident, and her body-cam supported that claim). I became so incensed at what that “journalist” wrote–posting only a portion of the story and not ALL the facts–that I emailed her this:
Hey Ms. ______
Were my mother-in-law and your friend Jeanne Lacey still alive, she would be horrified to read what you just had the audacity to have in print and as fact: that “cops kill people because their license tags are expired.”
I believe you’re referring to Daunte Wright.
He WAS pulled over because of an expired tag–BUT you didn’t say the rest, and shame on you, as a woman, to leave out the rest. He was wanted for robbing a WOMAN, at knife-point.
Wright wasn’t a choir-boy in church. Far from it.
Before you go judging, and printing only a FRACTION of what you think to be true, get ALL the FACTS and print it ALL. Spreaders of half-truths and fractions of stories are as bad as those who spread PROPAGANDA in the throes of WWII.
And before you slam any more police, do a little more investigating and TRUE JOURNALISM. Go research why and how more than FIFTY police offers have died in 2021 (not even four months!). Go RIDE with them as I have. See what they risk, every shift, every day. Go visit their families. Talk to their husbands or wives, and listen to what their children say.
Stop FOMENTING HATRED OF THE POLICE.
And next time you need help–and you will–DON’T call a cop.
I doubt this “journalist” will respond; she’s probably too busy writing something else to foment hatred against the police.
How about someone write about how these people (that were killed) were raised? Did they come from a loving, stable home? Were they raised to respect authority?
I myself was raised to respect everyone and anyone in a position of authority. When I am pulled over, I am respectful, and do what the officer says. I keep my hands on the steering wheel until told to do otherwise. When they ask for my driver’s license, I look the officer in the eye and tell them I have to reach for it inside my purse, so they’ll know what I’m reaching for.
Many people in my family have been in law enforcement. My son, my father, several uncles and a brother-in-law all were in some kind of law enforcement. They risked their lives every day, every shift.
I see this issue from the stories I’ve heard from these people, for they are true heroes, and often unsung and underappreciated.
For those out there serving on the front lines of our country, I thank you for your service. Don’t let a few “bad apples” get you discouraged, for there are many people like me who appreciate every thing you do.
Until next time, readers, thanks for reading this!
T.
