As a follow-up to yesterday, two more videos for you – one of a police officer's passionate statement against over-broad vilification of law enforcement, the other of a student getting browbeaten by his professor for supporting the police. I'm in favor of needed and thoughtful reforms and do not reflexively "back the blue" when officers are in the wrong. But like most Americans, I'm extremely grateful for the overwhelmingly professional men and women who show up every single day to protect and serve our communities, sometimes at great risk to their own safety. They shield society against its worst elements and therefore come into contact with dangerous people on a regular basis. Attacking law enforcement as a group, slandering them as "systemically racist," and calling for their defunding or abolishment, is deeply radical and unfair.
This officer, undoubtedly speaking for many, has had enough – and his resulting video rant is rocketing around the internet:
This is hard to watch but important to see. Sending this police officer support and respect. https://t.co/Psb6tngbTB
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 3, 2021
"I wake up every morning and kiss my family goodbye, knowing that there's a possibility I won't come home. I am tired of every time I wake up in the morning, there's someone else polarizing the fact that maybe law enforcement is just not a good thing. All of us are not bad. I am not as they are. Most of us are not. There are bad people in every career. I'm so 'G-D' tired! Tired! I'm so tired. I give everything. I give EVERYTHING!"
Does this man's voice (he appears to be an on-campus officer at a historically black university in Georgia) count? Does his exhaustion at the endless demonization matter? As for the anti-law enforcement Left, their rhetoric and tactics are extremely off-putting to most Americans, and by indulging the woke, identity-obsessed fringe, Democrats risk suffering at the polls:
.@DouthatNYT on the 2020-2021 violence surge and its potential political fallout: https://t.co/bQzRVyvU34 pic.twitter.com/oZ56Guj0nK
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) May 3, 2021
Left-wing prosecutors in major cities are facing heat over rising crime and coddling criminals:
Larry Krasner’s election in 2017 was a triumph for progressives nationwide: The man who had sued cops 75 times, represented Black Lives Matter, promised to end cash bail — and was widely seen as the most liberal district attorney candidate in the country — won. Four years later, Philadelphia’s top prosecutor — and one of the leading figures of the country’s criminal justice reform movement — is under siege. Homicides are skyrocketing in the city, and local officials are grumbling. A former assistant district attorney backed by the local police union is challenging Krasner in the May primary. And in recent weeks, the Philadelphia Democratic Party broke with years of tradition and declined to endorse the incumbent. Krasner isn’t the only big-city progressive prosecutor meeting fierce resistance. In California, both San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón are facing recall efforts. Opponents of the left-wing DAs have accused them of letting criminals loose on the streets and turning a blind eye to victims — all criticisms lobbed at Krasner, too.
The criticisms are being lobbed because they're accurate. Meanwhile, watch this much-shared exchange and decide for yourself who is behaving reasonably and rationally:
Recommended
WATCH: A student at Cypress College in California was berated by his professor for arguing that police are heroes and belong on children's shows. pic.twitter.com/FSu4J2YxwK
— Chrissy Clark (@chrissyclark_) April 29, 2021
I doubt the professor is interested in the facts here, but she's dead wrong about the roots of policing. Maybe she ought to have a conversation with the gentleman featured in the first video embedded above. I'd love to watch that discussion, wouldn't you?
