Cops and their apologists keep talking about “a few bad apples” re the murders of black folk and the beatings of completely peaceful protesters. Well, the complete saying is: “A few bad apples spoil the bunch.”

Rot spreads. If you get gangrene in your little toe and do nothing about it, you don’t lose a little toe. You lose a foot, then a leg, and then your life. That is what has happened to the police. To paraphrase the NRA, the only thing that will stop a bad cop who wants to murder a person of color is a good cop with a conscience.

Well then, where are the good cops?

Here’s the thing: Neo-nazis carrying torches chanting death to the Jews? The cops are cool with that. Armed & masked white supremacists occupying state capitol buildings and threatening legislators? The cops are cool with that. People quietly sitting in a park listening to violinists? Gas and batons. People peacefully sitting on the street with their hands up? Beat ’em and gas ’em.

 Look at the joy and glee cops show when beating peaceful protesters. It’s a disease that needs to be excised.

Jamie Selko

Eugene