Police officers in Las Vegas, Nev., in 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. Courtesy/Greg White

By GREG WHITE
Los Alamos

I am responding to David Reagor’s claims in a recent Letter to the Editor (link) that Democrats are being the real racists and not living up to Lincoln’s morals.

As a council candidate he should stop writing letters based on a hatred of Democrats and liberals and do some research! He should quote sources, for proof of fact and not his opinions, when the information is not widely known as fact.

Lincoln was a devout Christian and often spent most of the night walking the Rose Garden, talking with God. See: https://www.greatamericanhistory.net/lincolnsfaith.htm. Reagor has ridiculed me for pointing out what the Bible says.

At a recent Republican convention, delegates threw peanuts at a black women reporter saying, “This is how we feed animals”.

President Trump has consistently proven by words and actions that he is a racist. Just listen to his words at his “huge packed overflowing” rally in Tulsa, let alone saying there were “good” white power supporters and Nazis in Charlotte. This past Sunday morning, Trump tweeted a video of one of his followers shouting, “white power” multiple times.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there are approximately 800,000 police officers and sheriff’s deputies in the US, not “millions”. Here is another example of Reagor’s conservative position without any regard for the facts.

Unfortunately, racism, as well as many forms of discrimination and hate, are rampant in our society in general and around the world, stoked in recent years by Trump. Witness the drastic rise in the last three years in Europe and Great Britain of white nationalism and the resurgence of Nazism in Germany and Italy.

Yes, out of the 800,000 law enforcement officers, few are knowingly racist or just bad officers in general, but the good and honorable officers are overshadowed by the few bad. I don’t believe that Reagor knows anything at all about Minneapolis, let alone why the officer still had his job after all the complaints. But why let facts get in the way of bashing “liberals”.

It’s not from a lacking officials and prosecutors trying to hold them accountable. It’s from a society in general that makes up juries that refuse to believe a law enforcement officer could do any wrong. This is thankfully changing now, thanks to cell phone video.

I hope everyone got to see the video on Channel 13 news a week ago, showing a white Las Vegas, Nev. police officer dancing with a group of black teenagers and hugging them.

The photo above is of police officers in Las Vegas, Nev., in 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, without any protective gear except their vests (which will NOT stop a rifle bullet). None are carrying fully automatic weapons or even scopes for their rifles, and two officers carry only handguns. (In Nevada, as well as most states, only the military and SWAT officers can carry fully automatic weapons on duty. The rifles in the picture have only two positions: single shot and three round burst.)

These great public servants do not deserve to be included with the very small group of bad officers, but it’s up to us citizens to convict the bad officers when charges are brought and not blame public officials.

Also, there are reasons certain businesses are labeled as essential while seemingly similar businesses are not. Large stores like Smiths and WalMart have rooftop air conditioning systems like hospitals, which can introduce huge amounts of fresh air and expel huge amounts of contaminated air, which small businesses don’t have and can’t do.

Reagor, without any research, falsely claims ALL New Mexico and Los Alamos government employees have retained full pay while not working. Most Los Alamos employees with desk jobs have been working from home, and the rest working on the job if possible. Non-desk job employees have been working reduced hours in smaller crews and it’s the same with New Mexico State employees. Some State employees have been furloughed without pay. See: https://www.sfreporter.com/news/2020/04/27/furlough-forthcoming/ and https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/sandoval-county-asking-employees-to-voluntarily-furlough/

Here it is July, hot and dry. Did the COVID-19 virus miraculously go away as Trump and Reagor claimed it would? Cases are rising in 29 states, and Texas and California are re-closing businesses.

All in all, New Mexico is doing better than some states and worse than others, when adjusted for population, and number of population centers and their density, in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. The point of restrictions and asking people to stay at home was and still is, not to stop the virus, but to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with ICU patients. To that end New Mexico has been one of the most successful states.

Also our local medical center is in no danger of going out of business, as another citizen worried. It is part of Life Point Health. (http://www.lifepointhealth.net/locations) with 90 hospitals in 30 states and revenues over $9 billion a year.

Ask yourself whether we need a county councilor who does no research, states falsehoods as if they were fact, and makes groundless attacks based only on political party with no facts.