Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue
Kriste Kibbey Etue: "It was a mistake." (Michigan State Police photo)
The Michigan State Police normally is low-key when it comes to politics.
But that wasn't case Sunday when the director, Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, posted a meme on her Facebook page that referred to sports figures kneeling during the national anthem as a “a bunch of rich, entitled, arrogant, ungrateful, anti-American degenerates.”
Late Tuesday, she issued an apology as she faced an outcry from activists and advocacy groups in Michigan. Some called for her resignation or firing.
"It was a mistake to share this message on Facebook and I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended," she writes, according to Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press. “I will continue my focus on unity at the Michigan State Police and in communities across Michigan.”
Leonard Mungo, a Detroit attorney who has represented about a dozen black and white troopers in civil disputes with the department, tells the Freep that the posting demonstrates "kind of a dangerous mindset for someone in her powerful position."
It's "scary that they don't understand that America is defined by its freedoms, and one of these freedoms is freedom of speech," Mungo said. It also "has implications for why the state police ... don't have representative numbers of African Americans in their ranks," he said.
The reporter also spots this abrupt change:
Etue's FB page, where public posts & pics could be viewed Monday, appeared to be deleted or made inaccessible today https://t.co/xuJTZlABvQ
— Paul Egan (@paulegan4) September 27, 2017
