In their July 7 column, Gary and Joan Carlson were correct when they wrote, “in 2020 we face an enemy that is as much or even possibly a greater threat to our republic. It is a cancer that has been allowed to grow within America and has the potential to destroy us.”
What they got wrong is who the cancer is. Black people are not a cancer! The protests against the police brutality that has plagued our country since the beginning of cops in America aren’t the cancer either.
The real cancer is the Donald Trump cult of radical rightists who simply want Blacks to shut up and take it. Colin Kaepernick knelt peacefully to protest police brutality and those cultists had a tantrum about it.
Finally, after the deaths and beatings of thousands of Black people via cop, compassionate Americans of all races watched a video of a cop sadistically murdering George Floyd and decided America needed to change once and for all. If peaceful protests didn’t work, what choice did some have but to become more aggressive in delivering their message?
A posse? Really?
Republican Sheriff Holton added to the paranoia when he responded to the one Black Lives Matter rally in the Bitterroot Valley by telling the Missoulian, “It was completely peaceful, and I was thankful for that.”
On a personal note to Gary and Joan Carlson: I run a talent agency in Victor and 50% of my clients are black. They are all kind, tolerant people. One, a former teacher who speaks about civility in the colleges, risks her life at protests in New York City and then goes home to her son to homeschool him during the pandemic. How dare you call her a “cancer”!
Missoula Editorial 7/9/20 by Marty Essen: runs Encante Entertainment, Inc., a Victor, Montana, talent agency specializing in the college market. He is also a college speaker and the multi-award-winning author of five humorous political books. He is currently practicing social distancing, sequestered in his writing room, working on book six.