To the Editor:

In response to “Statement from Rep. Stefanik is Horrifying” which appeared in the June 1-15 issue of North Country This Week: The author echoes a narrative that planned and organized brutality is being exercised against those who exercise their free speech taking to the streets.

I agree the police need to be held accountable for the bad apples, and need further training to prevent future abuses that occurred during the marches, as well as to prevent future deaths like George Floyd's. Furthermore, the Minneapolis police chief, the mayor, and Democrat Senator Klobuchar should be held accountable for allowing Officer Derek Chauvin to remain on the police force with an egregious record of 18 cases of abuse prior to his killing George Floyd. If any accountability is to be demanded, let’s start with these Democrats who allowed such abuses to go unresolved under their watch.

Speaking of horrifying, where are the Democrats denouncing the daily shootings in Chicago? More than twice the Black citizens have been shot, killed, and injured there than all those nationwide in police encounters. Don’t their lives matter too? Please explain how a city that has been run by the Democrats since the 1930’s, has the strictest gun laws, cannot resolve the ongoing violence there? Sure, Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats will take a knee (While wearing Kente scarves worn by African Ghanaians, who in the past captured blacks and sold them to the slave traders), but such symbolic gesturing does not excuse the Democrats from their own accountability in failing to address such issues.

To defund or disband the police would only result in more potential abuses in the future with the lack of training. Police have a difficult job already with the resources they have. Excessive cuts could lead to unintended consequences with the public’s safety seriously compromised. Who will the writer call for help if someone is breaking into his home?

The writer complaints about police abuses during the protests, but is oddly silent about the violence, burning and looting perpetuated among those who mingle among protesters, hurting members within their own community. He does not mention the police shot in drive-by ambush shootings, or officers injured while trying to contain the rioting. What of David Dorn, the retired black police captain shot in the back of his head while responding to a store owner’s call to protect his establishment? Yes, both sides have been guilty of violent incidents during these protests. But these acts are from individuals, and should not be treated as representative of the whole from either side. To do otherwise means the writer intends to stereotype an entire group of people, which would be racist, would it not?

I wish the peaceful protesters would abstain from future street marches, for though well-intended, they provide cover for the bad actors to loot and burn, thus nullifying their message. We got the message. Social media should be the method now, to give cities a respite from the ongoing violence from those who exploit the peaceful protesters marches for their personal gain and evil gratification.

The writer demands that we should “decriminalize the act of being a minority.” That is a dishonest statement. It suggests there are laws on the books, manuals, and stated mission statements to target and criminalize minorities. Jim Crow practices do not exist today. Constitutional law and the means to address all forms of discrimination are accessible to everyone. Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers have been arrested and charged. Everyone throughout the nation has decried his actions. We do not need more laws to address discrimination.

What we need is for judges, DA’s and police chiefs, Democrat or Republican, not to ignore individual police officers with longstanding records of abuse to remain on the streets, and kick them out. Nor excuse those who infiltrate sincere protesters to exercise rioting as allowing them to “get it out of their system”. In Washington six city blocks have been taken over and treated as autonomous zones by radicals to make their own laws, with the mayor and Governor's blessing. That encourages anarchy and mob rule, conducive to creating a “Lord of the Flies” society. I don't think that is the answer to our problem.

Ron Shirtz

Rensselaer Falls