Racial bias does not validate disobedience

When did multi-ethnic grand juries become irrelevant? When did community disruption and destruction by looters become acceptable? When did the criminal become the victim and the police officer the perpetrator?

A good guess is when self-serving leaders such as tax evader the Rev. Al Sharpton said it was so. Inappropriate speeches from leaders such as New York mayor Bill De Blasio and the president of the United States and accepting shouts of “Burn this (expletive) down” from enraged step-fathers also contributed to the execution of the two New York police officers, both of whom were minorities themselves.

There are a lot of bloody hands out there and very few of these hands belong to those who wear shiny badges on blue uniforms and put their lives at risk at every call in order to protect us.

Under no conditions should being a minority justify disobeying a police officer much less become a threat to a police officer. If they do, they become responsible for the outcome of the encounter, even if they believe it was racially based. The country also needs to realize that you do not have to be black, Hispanic or of any other ethnic entity to be considered a minority in the mind of someone else.

If a police officer stops me for any reason, with hands on the steering wheel, the first thing I will say is, “Officer, I have a concealed weapon permit and I have a 38 special in my arm rest.” I will then follow every command given to me. If I have the delusion that I am being profiled  because the officer hates red-headed Welshman, I will register a complaint later.

Wake up, America. Racial bias, real or imagined, does not validate disobedience to legal authority, looting of community establishments or assassination of police officers eating their lunch.

Comply, then complain. It is lifesaving advice.

Chuck Hughes

Salisbury

Think, people

In response to R. Howard Andrews (Dec. 18):

Thank you, Howard, for another fine composition. My thoughts have nothing to do with religion or non-believers. Mine are about non-thinkers.

That was some group you picked out to have a low opinion of. You got about all of ‘em.

Now, I don’t have a kitten that I am proud of, but I do have a stump in my yard that I think more of than this bunch I’m fixin’ to name:

1. Nasty (parents?) adults that smack, snatch around, scream at and threaten young’uns in the Walmart.

2. Any person or group that releases balloons for any reason or cause. It’s just wrong.

3. Non-handicapped people that park in a handicapped spot.

4. Lazy people that leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot at the Harris Teeter store.

5. Drivers that are smart enough to get their license but not smart enough to figure out how to work them turn signals.

6. Anyone that drives in the left lane under the speed limit for 15 miles and will not move over.

7. Handicapped drivers that can’t read. Those placards are for parking, not for riding around.

8. Idiots that park in a No Parking zone.

9. Bigger idiots that turn right on red when they don’t have the right-of-way.

10. And the biggest loser idiots, smokers that light up where a No Smoking sign is posted.

Parting shot: “It ain’t against the law to think.”

— Whitey Harwood

Mocksville