GOP candidate for 4th Dist. offers views on policing
As protests, marches and rallies have unfolded across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, politicians have rushed to respond.
Inevitably, the response by politicians, and their opponents in the November elections, will become the subject of election rhetoric.
During a June 7 rally in Pottstown, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist., told a large crowd that she was returning to Washington the next day to begin work on federal legislation to reform policing in America.
But the woman running against Dean in the November election, Kathy Barnette, was denied the
opportunity to speak.
Barnette, who is African American, is the Republican candidate and felt she might offer a unique perspective, but was told the speaker’s list was full.
In a dispute which eventually found its way to the Pottstown NAACP Facebook page, Barnette’s campaign manager, Bob Gilles, posted comments about her exclusion, which the NAACP removed.
In a response to Gilles’ objections, chapter president Johnny Corson, posted a statement saying the posts were removed because the rally “was not a candidate’s forum” and that Dean and state Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-26th Dist., one politician from each party, had been allowed to speak because “they are officeholders who have the ability to affect policy.”
“The NAACP is a nonpartisan organization and will not be misused by candidates,” Corson posted. The event was not an NAACP event. The organization simply aided the young people who organized it, he said.
In one response captured by MediaNews Group before it was removed, Gilles argued that Dean is also a candidate and that at least one un-scheduled speaker was allowed to take the microphone.
“Five more minutes to allow Kathy to speak would not have been a concern to the event schedule,” he wrote, adding Barnette “clearly could have provided insight into the issue more than other speakers.”
Her campaign contacted MediaNews Group, which agreed to provide her with an opportunity to share that insight.
“Temperatures are running high right now and everyone thinks policing is the number one issue. I do not believe that,” Barnette said.
Which is not to say she does not want to see progress on the issue.
“My hope is we come out of this with more than some peaceful marches and pretty speeches,” said Barnette.
She said she opposes legislation that would have police overseen by “outside groups like the ACLU and NAACP rather than by the people who live in those communities.”
“I’m tired of white liberals coming into our community to tell us what our problems are,” Barnette said. “We need a culture of respect not just within police departments, but within our own community.”
“I completely understand having a knee-jerk reaction when they see a picture of a police officer using excessive force,” she said, adding that what happened to Floyd “is a prime example of excessive force.”
However, she noted that Minneapolis and other cities where police violence is seen as a problem “are all run by Democrats. Amy Klobuchar had the opportunity to prosecute” police involved in excessive force complaints “but she let the Grand Jury do her work for her,” said Barnette.
Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2006, Klobuchar, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president this year, was Hennepin County attorney. That made her responsible for all criminal prosecution in Minnesota’s most populous county, which includes the city of Minneapolis
Democrats, Barnette said, “are manipulating people” about the number of police incidents.
A larger problem for the black community, Barnette said, is “black-on-black crime,” pointing to the large number of murders in Chicago.
“White suburban communities and the people who live there know who is running their town, but that is sorely lacking in the black community,” Barnette said.
Barnette said she believes the two most important issues for African-Americans are “financial access” and “educational access.”
“I want to see everybody thrive,” Barnette said. “What we lack is access and influence.”
Quoting Frederick Douglass, Barnette said, knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
Barnette, who served for 10 years in the U.S. Army Reserves, is a former adjunct professor of corporate finance and author of “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: Being Black and Conservative in America.”