Racist top cops

Gangs have long been racially profiled by stereotypes to make it seem like so-called white people don’t commit crimes as often as other groups. After a year of national protest against police violence toward Black people and even longer, investigating each other’s police-involved shootings, our Laurel and Hardy top cops called a press conference to unleash unfettered racist invective (“Gang violence on rise in Spokane,” March 9). If “they will kill you in a heartbeat,” more reason for police to shoot first. They already shoot too many.

Using the standard racist strategy of terrifying dehumanization, (Sheriff Ozzie) Knezovich and (police Chief Craig) Meidl added their megaphones to the long history of Black demonization. “They don’t care about killing people,” in our gun-saturated society becomes the contemporary version of the dangerous Negro dating back to 1619.

Certainly, the press conference will be used to provide justification for more killology-informed extrajudicial executions. In Spokane, Knezovich and Miedl make it seem like Black lives don’t matter. I’m sick and tired of their malice!

Terence B. Allen, M.D.

Spokane