While the black community in Ferguson awaits, Missouri’s governor and the KKK lay OUT and lay DOWN the gauntlet
In
spite of his bizarre performance at the 2012 Republican Convention, I remain a
huge Clint Eastwood
fan. I have known for quite some
time that Eastwood was a Republican – he was once elected mayor of Carmel, California
– but I gave him a pass because I very much enjoyed his movies. One movie he made where he basically was a
big city equivalent of Barney Fife
– the bumbling, stumbling, one bullet carrying and clueless deputy sheriff in
The Andy Griffith Show – was “The Gauntlet”. Eastwood’s character was sent
on a suicide mission by a corrupt police commander and it was not until halfway
through his assignment that he was able to figure out that he was no more than
a sacrificial lamb. He literally had to
drive through a gauntlet of law enforcement officers with orders to kill him on
sight to deliver the witness he was assigned to bring in. That movie had quite a finish. On Tuesday, Missouri governor Jay Nixon held
a news conference at the regional headquarters of the Missouri Highway Patrol to assure
citizens in and around Ferguson that law enforcement agencies have been “working
around the clock” to protect their homes and businesses in the event
the St. Louis County Grand Jury decides to NOT indict Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson for
shooting and killing 18 year old Mike Brown who was unarmed.
The governor let it be known that looting and rioting would not be
tolerated and that if necessary, the Missouri National Guard will called in
to maintain order in Ferguson. Never
mind the public was told the Grand Jury was STILL hearing testimony
and reviewing evidence in the case. While
the black community in Ferguson awaits, Missouri’s governor and the KKK lay OUT
and lay DOWN the gauntlet.
Jay
Nixon’s message is CRYSTAL clear:
looting and rioting will NOT be tolerated. PERIOD. He had all the principles at his side when he
demonstrably delivered his message to the people of Ferguson, potential looters
and rioters and people in and around the St. Louis Metro –
Dan Isom, newly appointed by Governor
Nixon as the Director of Public Safety for the state of Missouri and former
chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department; St. Louis County Police
Chief Jon Belmar; Sam Dodson, Chief of the St. Louis
Metropolitan Police Department and Captain Ronald Johnson with the Missouri
Highway Patrol. This was the brain trust
behind the law enforcement efforts in Ferguson.
These men and their respective agencies have worked well together for
the most part since the beginning of the unrest in Ferguson. Despite some questionable policing
strategies, some out of control cops and violent protesters, there has been ZERO
loss of life in Ferguson as a result of the Mike Brown shooting. That is nothing short of miraculous. Still, keeping a lid on an unruly and angry
crowd will be a tall order indeed. With
that realization, another internationally known organization has offered to
assist law enforcement in crowd control.
Frank Ancona, Imperial
Wizard and President of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan has
volunteered the services of his distinguished organization in helping law
enforcement with crowd control in Ferguson.
Ancona and his crew have been proactive in their efforts to assist law
enforcement in and around Ferguson by passing out this flyer:
How altruistic of the KKK. They really need to be commended for their
concern about the wellbeing of the people in and around Ferguson. Ancona even took to the airwaves to explain
why his organization feels obligated to pitch in and help police.
See, Ancona and his group are acting within the interests
of ALL
residents of North St. Louis County REGARDLESS of race. He issued a stern warning to the “terrorists”
who take to the streets should the St. Louis County Grand Jury decides to not indict
Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Mike Brown. In the video, Ancona inferred that he had
been in direct contact with law enforcement and when pressed to be specific, he
amended his contact to “hearing from friends of police officers”. He went further in showing his
disgust for the “terrorists” by informing them they had “awakened a sleeping giant”
and promising to “use lethal force” to stop the protesters – make that
“terrorists”. He basically has anointed
his organization as the quasi security force for the POLICE. Ancona is concerned for the police who, in
his words, have endured threats of having their wives raped, their children
harmed and their own lives threatened. Frank
Ancona has reached the end of his rope and he and his organization are NOT
going to stand idly by and let “terrorists” have a run of the place. He feels it is his civic and patriotic duty
to do what he can to neutralize the “terrorists”. The impact he and his organization
could have has the potential to be monumental.
REALLY monumental.
What better way to neutralize an emotional, predominantly
African-American crowd angry about a racially charged killing of an unarmed
black teenager by a white cop who may be exonerated for killing the kid than to
insert the Ku Klux Klan – arguably one of the most RACIST, MURDEROUS
and POLARIZING
organizations in the history of mankind – smack dab in the middle of crowd
control? Are you OVERWHELMED with the
endless possibilities of peaceful resolutions by the Klan showing up in their
regalia in the middle of an angry crowd of black people? I mean that can ONLY have a positive
outcome, right? When I think about such
a scenario, I keep hearing “Ebony and Ivory” playing in the
background. It is reasonable to suspect
that Ancona’s organization has managed to whip some gun rights zealots into a
frenzy and with Missouri’s “Open Carry” law on the books, his intentions very
well may have found a receptive audience.
If this delusional clown and his minions in those garish costumes show
up in Ferguson in the aftermath of Darren Wilson avoiding criminal charges for
killing Mike Brown, the MOTHER of all race riots will be ONE
wrong move from jumping off. Governor
Nixon MUST take steps to avoid this from happening at all costs.
What is interesting about this entire theme is the ASSUMPTION
the Grand Jury will decide that Darren Wilson was justified in killing Mike
Brown. Considering how the St. Louis
County Prosecutor, Bob McCullough,
has gone out of his way to make sure Darren Wilson avoids facing criminal
charges and recent leaks about the Grand Jury’s deliberation, Wilson walking
does seem like a foregone conclusion.
The fact that Dr. Michael Baden, one of the top forensic pathologists in the WORLD who
performed an
 |
| Dr. Michael Baden |
independent autopsy on Mike Brown at the request of his family,
was just called to testify on Thursday after nearly three months of
deliberations. Had the prosecutor been
serious about pursuing criminal charges, this witness should have been among
the first witnesses called. According to
multiple reports, it was the Grand Jury, not the prosecutor, who called Baden
in to testify. It DOES seem like a foregone
conclusion and all parties – law enforcement, elected officials and those who
support Mike Brown – have resigned themselves to the fact that Wilson will
walk. Even protest groups such as the Don’t Shoot Coalition and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment are training
people on HOW TO protest. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Organizers have a non-violentvision, hold training for potential protesters) Personally, I
would be very surprised if Darren Wilson DOESN’T walk. The process from the beginning has been
designed to allow him to avoid criminal charges.
Bob McCullough assured the public a decision will
be made by mid to late November. We’re
smack dab in the middle of November. The
decision watch is now on an “any day now” clock. For maximum public safety consideration, the
decision will more than likely be made public on a weekend. Whatever the Grand Jury decides, a lengthy
healing process will have to take place.
Hopefully, that process will be honest and painful for ALL
parties and that will be a good thing.
Before we can get there, a volatile situation looms large. How volatile is anyone’s guess. There has been training by various
organizations for various reasons with the hope of varying results. We’ll see.
Lines have been drawn in the sand.
The entire St. Louis Metro is waiting.
While the black community in Ferguson waits,
Missouri’s governor and the KKK lay OUT and lay DOWN the gauntlet.
Peace, peace.
Craig Riggins
Facebook: The Riggins Report
Twitter: @CraigRiggins
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