We’re not perfect, but we’re doing pretty well in Tehachapi

When I see so many articles written by those who seem hell-bent on taking my remarks in the worst possible way, I feel that perhaps some clarification is in order.

Yes, the protesters have a right to do what they’re doing, as long as it’s peaceful. And for the most part, it has been, although many will use protests as an excuse to loot, destroy and even riot (particularly in the case of Ferguson. Mo., and Minneapolis.) Perhaps I shouldn’t have been too quick to dismiss the young adults rallying to teach us here in Tehachapi what most of us already know. What I am against, more specifically, is the hypocrisy.

Police brutality is always a problem. People calling it out is fantastic. It’s just disappointing that some people are only doing it because they want to see racism everywhere. Crooked cops are typically just bullies who want to feel above everyone else. It rarely matters what race their victims are; if they were smart, they would just abuse white people and nobody would care. Example: A woman named Justine Ruszczyk was shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer, but nobody protested for one simple reason — she was white.

Everyone has the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and hypocrisy of this nature is an insult to those we’ve lost whose names go unsung to this day.

And God bless the Tehachapi police force for doing a fantastic job in keeping Tehachapi a safe community, and for handling each case as fairly as possible. We are not perfect, but considering our murder rate is 0.0%, and that we do not face the same problems of police brutality that many big cities generate, I think we’re doing pretty well.

— Jack Cerminaro, Tehachapi