White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien denied that systemic racism is a problem in law enforcement agencies across the country during an interview on CNN Sunday morning.
That ain’t gonna fly.
“No, I don’t think there’s systemic racism,” O’Brien said. “I think 99.9% of our law enforcement officers are great Americans and many of them are African-American, Hispanic, Asian. They’re working in the toughest neighborhoods, they got the hardest jobs to do in this country.”
The reputation of the Minneapolis’ police department as a leader in police reforms came to an end well before Floyd’s death. In July 2017, Officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a yoga teacher from Australia who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her home. Harteau resigned days later.
Noor, a Somali-American, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for shooting Damond, a white woman. The city of Minneapolis paid a $20 million settlement to Damond’s family and lawyers. Because Noor didn’t record his encounter with Damond on his body camera, the police department updated its policy and now requires cops to activate their body cameras while traveling to a call. Officials said that the officers involved in the Floyd case all had their cameras turned on.
Honey, learn your lesson from the Vietnam War being broadcast into people’s living rooms every night. The violent police reaction to peaceful and lawful protests are not going to end well for the GOP.
O’Brien went on to praise law enforcement for being “amazing, great Americans” before arguing that “there are some bad apples in there.”
“There are some bad cops that are racist, there are cops that maybe don’t have the right training,” O’Brien said. “There are some that are just bad cops and they need to be rooted out because there’s a few bad apples that are giving law enforcement a terrible name.”
O’Brien then added that “there’s no doubt there’s some racist police” before reiterating that he thinks “they’re the minority.”
from The Marshall Project
Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, also didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. Kroll, who is white, was once named in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the police department brought on by a group of black cops, including an officer who is now the current police chief. The 2007 suit alleged that Kroll openly wore a “white power” badge on his motorcycle jacket.
also
According to multiple sources familiar with hostage negotiation, and O’Brien personally, his experience is still lacking for the particular demands and challenges of the national security adviser role.
One source — a staffer to a Democratic senator on the Foreign Relations Committee, worried that O’Brien would prove too deferential to Trump
.
This says it all.
"too deferential to Trump"
tRump and Barr have inserted themselves in the George Floyd murder. What else would he say.
Whew! I feared he might say something clueless and out of touch. Thank God he’s grappled with the issue.
In the end, it’ll be that he didn’t know that a FOP head spoke at that Trump’s Minneapolis rally.
Will no one ever say the full phrase? A few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.
OK, so put up or shut up. If a few bad apples are ruining it for everyone, how about some high-profile prosecution of those bad apples with an eye toward putting them away for a long time?
FFS, not the “few bad apples” trope again! Incredible.
Hmm. A few bad apples. And what to a few bad apples do, Bub? THEY SPOIL THE WHOLE BARREL.
Sorry buddy but if there are a ‘few bad apples’ and a whole bushel full that sit back and allow the crap to happen…well there is more than a ‘few’.
Why should I respect you if you don’t respect me? Why should I value your life if you don’t value mine? Why should I protect a system that doesn’t protect me?
And how, exactly, does he know this with such certainty? No one else seems to know this with any clarity until bad things happen and he is certain? Really, as certain as Trump that people he doesn’t like are perpetrating violence, which ehe is calling for violence ‘…vicious dogs, ominous weapons!..’
No one in this Administration is ever allowed to utter the phrase “our failed policies” or “a mistaken approach” or “this misguided agenda” as a way to start reinventing government programs. They won’t own it, so they don’t have to fix it. Well, the election of the Current Occupant was our (big picture here - not blaming Democrats) big American failure, and we damn sure better get it right the next time around.
I noticed that O’Brien used Trump’s technique of repetition to redirect and confuse by saying “antifa” multiple times at every opportunity. He also seemed eager to funnel blame toward China. This was during the interview by Stephanopolous.
“When there’s trouble on the deck, look to the bridge.” – old Navy saying
It’s odd that a privileged white man doesn’t see systemic racism. I’m sure that if it was there, he would have noticed it and done something about it.
(BTW–is it just me, or is anyone else just dumbfounded that anyone thinks it would be “healing” to have Dotard address the nation? I saw on the Twitter machine that Kushner is against the idea. I can’t believe that I agree with Jared Kushner, although for very different reasons, I’m sure.)
When you’ve lost southern sheriffs:
Sorry, bad link, click on the “liberal redneck” part