My name is Peter Kelly (he/him) and I have been a resident of Nanaimo since 1997. I’m a past president of the Nanaimo area ferry workers union, a single parent, concerned citizen and I offer my full support and endorsement of Lisa Marie Barron for the Federal NDP nomination for the seat of Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
I have known Lisa for over 10 years and was an enthusiastic supporter in her campaign for school district trustee in the previous local elections and I feel that Lisa is the right kind of leadership we need today.
Lisa’s generosity, compassion, empathy and honest talk is lacking in Ottawa and absent here today. Lisa is the right choice and I encourage all NDP members to follow me and support Lisa in her bid to become the next Member of Parliament from our region.
Between #defundpolice to cheering on the random vandalism against monuments and statues, the stupid-left is doing Trump’s work for him.
I’m not kidding either.
#defundpolice
I understood the #defundpolice ‘movement’ as a cry for help. A demand to rethink policing; in fact, several pundits have described this out well and its not an unreasonable idea to hold. But I’ll be yelled at by some who’ve driven off the ideas cliff that “no, we need to shut down all police departments…no police at all.”
That’s a non starter with me. And its not that I side with police who engage in violent behavior – I don’t. Every officer needs to he held accountable for their actions, including their superiors who enable them and the public officials (politicians) who set the narrative.
Policing, in places, is sick and it needs help. The cure is going to suck for sure, but if we’re to continue to be a society of (fair) rules and laws, then dramatic reform is necessary. Even Camden New Jersey, who abolished their police force, has a police force. Reformed and restructured.
If I had my wits about me, I’d be arguing that the notion of ‘defund the police’ is the workings of far right dark arts specialists. Because defunding something in the public realm (which only needs reforms) is uniquely conservative.
Vandalism
First, we do not place statues that honour white supremacists and Nazi’s. That’s why you don’t find them in post war Germany. Oddly, you find them in the deep south of America. Great, towering monuments to revered Confederate Generals who fought the lost cause against the northern invaders. Oh wait, it was the south that split from the north because they sought to protect the state’s right to maintain slavery.
Germany was smart that way. Once the war was over and began to reconstruct their democracy, they outlawed any Nazi symbols, flags, etc. Not to erase the past, but so that it doesn’t get glorified. Learning about the genocide of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime is required learning by school kids so that they fully understand what tyranny looks like. Nothing is sugar coated.
The old confederacy however got its losing story retold and a complicit nation did nothing about it. For the better part of a century past the end of the US Civil War, political pressure made it possible that southern leaders got to re-tell the story. That it was the War of Northern Aggression, not the reunification war that it was intended. In all fairness, President Lincoln stated that he would have reunited the country with or without slavery; it wasn’t until later in the war that he found his abolitionist salvation that he is remembered for.
The statues to General Lee and ‘President’ Jefferson Davis are as offensive to African-Americans as one to Adolph Hitler would be to a German; or any reasonable minded person. But I am not in favour of the archaic vandalism used to bring them down.
Yes, the monuments that lionize Confederates and their ’cause’ should come down and appropriately placed in museums that give proper context and unvarnished facts about the inhuman slavery cause they were fighting to defend; akin to modern venues where the history of the Third Reich are told.
What folks are seeing is an angry mob move into a town square; vandalize and rip down a statue. This is political manna from heaven for Donald Trump. He’s looking to secure a coalition of voters to give him a second term and the stupid-left is doing his work for him. He needs voters from a moderate to conservative voter position to see the alternative as unacceptable. Its working.
Yes the monuments need to come down. But it needs to be part of the re-education process. The affected states and towns need to solicit ideas to what should replace these icons of hate; get citizens involved – as opposed to seeing a mob smash shit.
These once-revered characters sought to preserve the crimes of human slavery and get no honour from us anymore. Sites should be re-dedicated to those who fought against slavery, those who died because of slavery. Confederates were the enemy and they lost. End of story.
Peaceful protests
By no means am I trying to undermine #blacklivesmatter. Or those calling for major police reforms now. I agree. I support your right to be out, be loud, but not to throw punches, rocks, bottles or otherwise. Both the American and Canadian constitution protect your right to peacefully assemble; but the key is peaceful. To be sure, most are. So don’t give in to the tiny handful of violent saboteurs or you’ll make yourself the unwitting stars in very effective Donald Trump ads.
The view from Pete 