“(Not) very different than what happened all across this country all summer long in Democratic-ran cities, and nobody had a problem with that.”

~ John Catanzara, President: Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police

  I’m from a law enforcement family. My favorite uncle ran an NYC precinct. My closest cousins (Italian Americans, like my uncle) worked for the FBI and the Florida Corrections Department. That’s why I’m ashamed of people like Catanzara, a Trumper.

  But Catanzara was not the only police union official making outrageous remarks. The President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (Mike Solan) indicated that Black Lives Matter protesters were part of the violent mob insurgency, although they were not.

  In fact, there are major differences in the Black Lives Matter protesters and the armed insurrectionists. The white supremacist mob which invaded our Capital, incited by a sore-loser President who repeatedly told them to “fight,” was bent on overthrowing our government. Their goal was to change the results of a fair and honest election. It was a violent revolt against democracy and our way of life, domestic terrorism. 

  They overwhelmed a vastly outnumbered and unprepared police force. Members of the group were armed with various weapons. They savagely beat law enforcement officers merely trying to protect our Capital, cursing them for simply doing their job. Many officers were injured, as we all saw on national television, and one died.

  In an invasion of our seat of government, the first domestic action of its kind since 1776, these rioters stopped the peaceful counting of the state’s Electoral College votes by Congress. They trashed national artifacts, defecated on the floors and stole personal property of members of Congress. They proudly filmed themselves doing these deeds, falsely claiming that they were patriots.

  This disgusting revolt was finally put down. But it will be a stain on our nation. It will give authoritarian dictators, many of whom were coddled by Trump, an excuse to say “see, we are no worse than the Americans.”

  On the other hand, most BLM protests were peaceful. Organizers clearly told protesters to be peaceful, to follow the non-violent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizers did not urge the crowd to “fight” or be violent.

Further, these BLM protesters were not part of a brainwashed political cult, blindly following the dictates of an authoritarian leader, motivated by a constant barrage of lies rather than facts. No, they were there to protest the unnecessary taking of black lives by police officers, a national disgrace. 

  Last year, 1,127 people were killed by police in the US, a disproportionate number were black (triple the rate of whites). Further, 45 unarmed people of color (black, Hispanic, Asian) were killed by police, as opposed to only 31 whites, although whites make up 63% of the US population. 

  And the death rate of African American killings by police varies dramatically by city and state, having little correlation with the crime rate. For example, the death rate in Oklahoma is five times that of Georgia (https:// mappingpoliceviolence.org). And some cities are going up, like Denver, while others are going down, like Chicago … regardless of crime stats. Further, only a little more than 1% of police are ever charged in these killings.

  As former Assistant Director of the FBI, Frank Figliuzzi, stated, “If we had changed the color or religion of these people planning this (the Capital insurrection), we might have seen a more aggressive response.” (1-20-21, Bill Maher Show) Our nation needs to take his words to heart and root out the leaders of the insurrection, as well as the violent white supremacist movement, before matters get worse.

  Jack Bernard was the first Director of Health Planning for Georgia and served two terms on the Jasper County Board of Health. He retired as a Senior Vice President with a national healthcare corporation. He is now a widely published, nationally known expert on healthcare reform.