What if BLM and Back the Blue held a joint rally?

I am a rich old privileged white man who would have liked to attend both Black Lives Matter and Back the Blue rallies. I was raised in the near South where my much-loved white grandfather felt it was OK to have a black child dance a jig and sing a song for access to his plum orchard to pick the fruit lying on the ground. I witnessed this at six years old and accepted that it was OK to disparage a black person just because they happened to be black. This was part of my cultural, systemic, racist upbringing. Seventy years later I fully realize how wrong that was.

I support both Black Lives Matter and Back the Blue. Being a military veteran, I hate the BLM jocks taking a knee during the National anthem. I also hated the knee on George Floyd’s neck. Violence at BLM protests damages the message more than people and property. Defunding police departments is nuts; instead get rid of police unions. I believe the cops shoot too fast, black or white; change police training.

If these two rally organizers had real courage, they would organize a joint rally including both BLM and Back the Blue. You think?

Mike Schaefer

Marysville