Dateline:St.Paul,MN Response to letter by the head of St.Paul police federation to St.Paul school Superintendent Dear David Titus: I read your letter to Valeria Silva Superintendent of St.Paul Schools . Let me first respond by wondering aloud why you bothered to respond to a tweet that wasn’t addressed to you. She tweeted, “No indictment of Officer Wilson. [A] sad day in America. How do I explain this to my black students?” I noticed you used the word ignorant to describe Ms. Silva’s comments. In actuality the word may more appropriately apply to you because you must surely be ignorant of the fact that your job is supposedly to uphold the law and not take sides in debates in the town square, especially in an official capacity. You are probably ignorant of this, but the US Constitution in one of its amendments gives, Superintendent Silva the right to express her opinions. And no, it does not give her the right to yell fire in a crowded theatre or advocate that people be killed because of their color, race or religion. But it does absolutely guarantee her right to express herself. And while you may be ignorant of this as well, your taking the time to write to her is absolutely inappropriate and a serious breach of official etiquette and an abuse of your position. You carry a gun on your hip, so what you say can easily be interpreted as a threat and cannot easily be brushed aside, especially since in this case. You have crossed the line. After your comments will Supt. Silva honestly feel she is going to receive the benefit of the doubt if she has an encounter with one of your fellow officers? Furthermore your letter appears to be a not so veiled attempt to bully Ms. Silva and anyone else who believes that Mike Brown Jr should still be alive today. Along with personally attempting to bully Ms Silva and others who share her opinon, your letter attempts to use your bully pulpit,( ironically given to you supposedly by the public that employs you) to silence her. (Of course we know that it is just propaganda that you work for us everyday working class folks, because if you worked for us, people in uniform wouldn’t beat us and shoot us down in the streets and leave our body’s in the street like a dead dog or cat. We know the truth that you don’t work for the public, but rather a power structure that uses you to reinforce the prejudices of our society --in other words to keep Negroes, immigrants and poor folks in their place-- while protecting the institutions and the interests of the rich and to protect private property.) But let’s pretend that you are servants of the public. While you claim your office has received complaints about the letter, it’s also true that a large segment of the population agrees with her. In fact most people agree with Ms Silva that people who use their badge and uniform to kill people unnecessarily should be punished. Even television pundits have said it was an unnecessary killing manslaughter at best, murder at worst. And yes I agree. And while you accuse Ms. Silva of not being aware of the facts clearly you are ignorant in this area as well. And since you raised it lets explore the facts. The facts of the case are obvious to anyone who want to acknowledge the truth, Mike Brown was unarmed and shot by a police officer who clearly did not have to fire a kill shot at someone stumbling forward with their hands in the air. Your letter makes it clear that you are oblivious of the most important fact at the heart of the Mike Brown Jr tragedy and that is MIKE BROWN WAS A HUMAN BEING AND AS A HUMAN BEINGS HE HAD A RIGHT TO LIFE, TO INHABIT THE EARTH, TO BREATH. AND IN THE US WE ARE GUARANTEED “THE RIGHT TO LIFE.” And let me remind you that even if people did call you and express dismay with Ms Silva’s response, you are not the opinion police, you are not the Gestapo (or are you?) We are not living in a fascist state. People with an obvious dim view of humanity cannot call you and sic you on those in which they disagree. No one has given you the right or permission, to censor anyone (unless I have misread the Constitution). Your actions are not just inappropriate, but highly inconsistent with a democratic society. Furthermore, writing that letter exposes you, it reveals you as callous, soulless and hard-hearted . Whether you agree with their perspective, people in this community (in which you are supposedly sworn to serve and protect) are hurt they are grieving what they see is an obvious miscarriage of justice. The least you could do as a “supposed” public servant and just as a human being is allow people to express their disappointment, their sadness, their grief. But you couldn’t do that! Coincidentally, I agree with your letter’s expression of concern for the children, especially your children. I am not concerned about how Ms Silva’s concern for human life is going to affect them, but rather how your lack of sensitivity, concern and empathy for fellow human beings is going to affect your children and any in your department who holds similar views. If this is indeed a nation of laws you have circumvented the law. If indeed the police are accountable to those in City Hall I am going to write to the mayor and city council and asked that you either be censored or told in no uncertain terms that you have no right in the capacity of the head of a police agency to attempt to censor or intimidate or coerce a private citizen into being silent. In the future it would be advisable that before you respond to private citizen’s tweet, that you keep in mind they have a right to voice their views. This country still has a Constitution that guarantees the right to freedom of expression, unless there has been a new development of which only you and your ilk have been made aware. Attempting to bully and intimidate those you disagree with only fosters resentment adds to the climate of mistrust and fear and makes people wonder if you do in fact as a matter of principle, support questionable actions of the police whether they border on being excessive, unlawful, abusive or just plain in bad taste! justice then peace
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:14:32 +0000
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