Rohcelle Riley
Rohcelle Riley: "A public servant . . . can no longer be a public racist."
The controversy involving Michigan State Police Director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue hasn't faded.
You might recall she posted a meme on her Facebook page that attacked NFL players who took a knee for the national anthem, which essentially concluded they were: Degenerates. Arrogant. Ungrateful.
Which has now lead Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley to write:
These were sentiments slave-owners expressed about their "property," dissatisfied with the fact that they were fed between beatings.
Riley also writes about a Pennsylvania fire chief who called Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin a “no-good n-----” for having his team remain in the locker room during the national anthem.
And she comments:
Etue, whose department has been besieged by complaints of racial discrimination and who just had an officer Tase a young black teenager while chasing his ATV, causing his death, doesn’t get it. Here’s what she doesn’t understand, what that Pennsylvania fire chief doesn’t understand and what Trump doesn’t understand: When you become a public servant, you can no longer be a public racist.
No one can stop you from being a private racist. You can keep posters of Hitler on your wall and wish for days you could lynch black people without hoods as long as you keep it to yourself. We cannot make anyone feel humanity or decency or fairness or a sense of Americanism that is synonymous with diversity.
But when you put on the mantle of an American president or a governor or a state police director, you must keep those feelings to yourself.