Hero

Police officer Charles Gliniewicz. Does that name ring a bell? Recently, in Lake County, Illinois, the officer was found dead in his patrol car, after calling in to his station that he was in pursuit of three suspects.

His body was found, shot twice. And a massive manhunt was underway. That very day, across America, postings lit up the internet, mostly positing that this was yet another example of the “war on police” allegedly waged by Black Lives Matter.

Officer Gliniewicz was give a hero’s funeral. Fox News, in particular commented and ranted for days, even seeming to imply that the three suspects might be black. War on police, war on police.

Tea Partyers aren’t interested in facts unless they help along their racist agenda. And the pertinent fact here is that in 2015, according to national crime statistics, the United States had the lowest number of police killings in the 21st Century.

Not only is there not a war, there is good news.

Meanwhile, hero and police officer Charles Gliniewicz has been declared a suicide. If it stopped there, I’d have sympathy for the man. It turns out, he was about to be indicted for fraudulently stealing thousands of dollars from a children’s fund. He was a common crook, a thief. He tried to hire a hit man to kill the auditor who was investigating him.

Now his wife and son are under investigation. Gliniewisz scammed children, the son of a bitch. He set up his suicide to avoid jail, to protect his pension for his wife, a widow of a hero, not a children scammer. He became a dramatist, creating “three suspects,” appealing to the base instincts of racists.

There is shame enough to go around, here. There was shoddy reporting, inept police investigation, and racially cast aspersions on Black Lives Matter and blacks in general.

As for the millions of people who posted “Hero,” America is waiting for an apology.

About Eugene Jones Baldwin

I am a writer: non-fiction, fiction, journalism (Alton Telegraph), essays (The Genehouse Chronicles) and have a website: eugenebaldwin.com. I've published a couple dozen short stories and had eleven plays produced. Current projects: "Brother of the Stones" (available on Kindle), a book of short stories; "The Faithful Husband of the Rain, short stories"; "A Black Soldier's Letters Home, WWII,;" "There is No Color in Justice," a commentary on racism; "Ratkillers," a new play. I am an avocational archaeologist and I take parts of my collection of several thousand Indian artifacts (personal finds) to schools, nature centers, libraries etc. and talk about the 20,000 year history of The First people in Illinois. (See link to website) I'm also a playwright (eleven plays produced), musician, historian (authority on the Underground Railroad in Illinois, the Tuskegee Airmen) and teacher.
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