Knezovich misguided

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has stated that former President Barack Obama “let this country down. That man was perfectly positioned to heal this country and close the divide between law enforcement and the people, and he blew it.”

By “the people”, I assume Sheriff Knezovich meant especially people of color. Does Knezovich think that, because of Obama’s race, he had a responsibility to somehow fix decades of problems between police and people of color, problems preceded by centuries of racism that allowed genocide of indigenous peoples, enslavement of Africans and continuing oppression to this day of people of color by whites?

Sadly, unarmed black people have been killed by police, and officers, too, have been killed, though in historically low numbers during Obama’s presidency. Most killers of police are white males.

My heart aches when I hear of law enforcement officers or unarmed people being killed. There is so much that needs to be fixed. But to place the burden of that fixing on people of color is wrong. While some people seem to be intent on making the White House white again, I think what is needed is conversion, mainly on the part of people, like myself, who are white.

Kenneth Hammann

Spokane