Look at the causes, help find solutions

Dear Editor:

In Jim Taylor’s most recent column when referring to all law enforcement agencies; police; National Guard and armed forces says: “They can’t avoid being racist because their job, perhaps their only job, is to defend the property and power of the privileged classes, who are — at least in the United States — mainly white males (Okanagan Weekend, June 6).

While Taylor targets the U.S., he makes several blanket statements that can be interpreted as applying to all institutions including those in Canada upon which we rely to uphold our democracy.

This fuels unrest; racism and denigrates every person that joins the police and armed forces out of idealism and wishing to serve their country. In Afghanistan, 158 Canadians died for Canada. Captain Jonathan Snyder helped save 50 Afghan recruits from the Taliban. Three days later, he died when he fell into a well on a nighttime patrol.

How do you think the Snyder family feels after reading that column?

It is always easy to throw sticks and stones; it is harder to look at the causes and find the solutions.

While the U.S. has many good attributes — such as the ability to select their president and the Electoral College which mitigates and balances out inequalities within the voting system — the major failing of the U.S. is their election of candidates for law enforcement duties. Across the country in small town America, sheriffs are elected. Judges; District Attorneys throughout America are elected at the whim of the electorate. Like politicians, they are swayed by the vote.

Anyone who watches U.S. politics today will know that the lower court judges are notorious for rulings aligning with the wishes of their party whether Democrat or Republican.

Canadian law enforcement bodies are not elected: police; judges; Crown prosecutors and military are not racist bodies.

I am not saying that racists don’t exist, what I am saying is the danger of writers like Jim Taylor painting with broad brush strokes is that they do a disservice to all the good cops on the front lines; crown prosecutors and judges that go out of their way to ensure race is immaterial in the court system.

Police die to protect citizens. They don’t run from trouble. They run towards it. The same goes for the military. There is no place for cowards and there is no place for racists. They are our last line of defence against anarchy.

Elvena Slump

Penticton