Normally a reader-submitted letter to another newspaper would never get ink in Insight News, but when that letter flows with coded racist undertones and is penned by a high-ranking elected official; well, we’ll make an exception.
And quite frankly State Rep. Tony Cornish, we take exception.
This past Wednesday (June 8), for reasons we find inexplicable, Cornish, a Republican representative from Vernon Center – a bustling town of 326 (give or take a person or two) – decided to put fingers to keyboard and opine on “what we (people of color) can do to reduce the use of force by police,” a most legitimate question being posed with the almost routine abuses of power and excessive force at the hands of law enforcement. In his letter to the Star Tribune Good ol’ Mr. Cornish, who is a former deputy sheriff, offered up some “sage” advice. While he bulleted (cops love their bullets) a list of dos and don’ts, I’ll sum it up without the bullets. Heaven knows we don’t need any more bullets flying around.
In a nutshell Cornish’s “advice” … Negroes, stay in your place.
To hell with your rights, those don’t apply. Now to be fair, Cornish didn’t say Negroes. Instead he used the neocon’s favorite code word, thug.
See, in Cornish’s ill-informed mind anyone ruffed up by police is a criminal by default. Damn the millions of dollars state police departments are forking out in either settled or lost law suits demonstrating a pattern of police violence. According to our friend from Vernon Center, the victims deserved their brutal beatings.
Jamar Clark got what was coming to him.
And while most of us who don’t for one second buy the police narrative in the Clark killing, in the letter, Cornish offered no explanation for the killings of citizens such as 12-year-old … let’s say that again … 12-year-old Tamir Rice or John Crawford, III who undisputedly had broken absolutely no laws when they were gunned down by police. Cornish had no good reason to justify the arrest and later, death of Sandra Bland.
Oh wait, that’s right; Bland caused her own death because as Cornish put it, she should have known her place and known “don’t flap your jaws when the police arrive.”
When will you Negroes learn to not question The Man? America was such a wonderful country when folks knew their place. Now people have the nerve to believe they are afforded rights and stuff. Quit thinking freedom of speech applies. Hell, quit thinking about freedom altogether.
Funny thing is the representative admits in the letter that his own “grandpa” … um, “served time in Stillwater State Prison.” That’s his polite way of saying grandpa was a criminal – dare I say thug. Wonder if “Grandpa” deserved to have been beaten or even killed by law enforcement – possibly wiping out the possibility for Cornish to have been spawned?
See, there will be no grandchildren for Tamir Rice. None for Sandra Bland either. They were not afforded the opportunity to bring forth life. Then again, maybe that’s exactly how Rep. Tony Cornish wants it.
