Carmella Means, an attorney and 25-year veteran Chicago police officer, has been taking a lot of heat since last month when a photo went viral showing her kneeling in front of the Fraternal Order of Policeโs headquarters while holding a sign that said, โBlack Lives Matter.โ
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First, letโs acknowledge that โFraternal Order of Policeโ is the worst supervillain crew name anyone has ever come up withโthe Legion of Doom would never.
โJust because someone wants a better police department or is standing up against corruption in the police department and police brutality, doesnโt make them anti-police. I am pro-police,โ Means told Fox 32 in response to questions about the backlash sheโs received from fellow officers.
Means cited the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald as an example of police corruption.
โJason Van Dyke unjustly murdered Laquan McDonald and shot him 16 times. The FOP fully supported him and gave him a job,โ she said.
Twenty-seven-year veteran Officer Frederick Collins disagrees that an officer can be pro-police while kneeling for the cause.
Collinsโwho, like Means, is Blackโfiled charges against Means late last month, claiming that she violated its constitution and bylaws and โfailed to create a spirit of fraternalism and mutual helpfulness among the membership,โ Fox 32 reports.
โTo have organizations that wish us dead, call us the n-word, that destroy stores in our neighborhood, that promote violence...how could you kneel in support of that type of organization?โ Collins told FOX 32, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Black Lives Matter movement, for the most part, has not called for the death of police officers, that most protests have been peaceful and that protesters arenโt the ones commonly calling anyone the n-word.
โI think that if she had a gripe, the lodge offers you plenty of opportunity to bring anything before the members,โ Collins continued. โIโve been out there in the marches, Iโve held my fist up, but we arenโt going to kneel before anyone but God.โ
*Deep sigh*
This cooโฆ(actually, Iโm pretty sure my editors wonโt let me call him that)...This confused gentleman of the house negro persuasion really needs to stop. I refuse to believe heโs actually ever held his fist up for anything unless it was to punch a Black person for hurting his little fragile blue feelings.
Collinsโwho Iโm almost certain was Samuel L. Jacksonโs stunt-double in Django Unchainedโhas basically decided that a police officer either needs to be an unconditional part of the blue wall, or theyโre out of the club. This is why so many people remain unconvinced that systemic racism in policing is due only to โa few bad apples.โ
Meansโwho told Fox 32 that she donโt even know this nigga (Iโm paraphrasing)โonly appears to want police officers in America to do better. She seems to understand that she canโt truly be proud of her profession as long as the entire culture of policing remains inherently racist. This is the kind of attitude we long to see more of coming from cops. Instead, what we see is any cop who dares to speak out either being fired or ostracized by their fellow officers.
These charges brought against Means by Officer Bitchy McWhite-Adjacent shows us nothing different.
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