The so-called "Back the Blue" Act would impose a mandatory minimum 30-year sentence for killing a U.S. judge, police officer, firefighter, chaplain, or ambulance crew member. Offenders would also be subject to the death penalty.
It’s entirely reasonable to both support EMTs or 911 dispatchers or firefighters, and to not support ICE. These aren’t conflicting ideas, they just happen to be multiple separate things all lumped together in order to make you think they all go together.
Similarly, you can believe that some police actions are acceptable, and others (arguably most, or at least far too many in our current system) are not. If a guy is stabbing his ex to death across the street, then there needs to be some intervention from some form of law enforcement. That’s not really in question. Standing on a man’s neck for 9 minutes is obviously an entirely different thing. That’s also not in question by anyone reasonable.
Right. My point is that they (or at least, the Democrats) will pass this with the well-intentioned point of extending protections of EMTs or law enforcement who are engaged in legitimate activity like you said, and will instead be used almost exclusively as a way to protect ICE and punish brown people. I want to support a law like this because of the people that it is intended to help, but also fully acknowledge the reality of the world we live in and know how a law like this will most likely end up being (ab)used in the real world. Hence, the conflict.
It’s entirely reasonable to both support EMTs or 911 dispatchers or firefighters, and to not support ICE. These aren’t conflicting ideas, they just happen to be multiple separate things all lumped together in order to make you think they all go together.
Similarly, you can believe that some police actions are acceptable, and others (arguably most, or at least far too many in our current system) are not. If a guy is stabbing his ex to death across the street, then there needs to be some intervention from some form of law enforcement. That’s not really in question. Standing on a man’s neck for 9 minutes is obviously an entirely different thing. That’s also not in question by anyone reasonable.
Right. My point is that they (or at least, the Democrats) will pass this with the well-intentioned point of extending protections of EMTs or law enforcement who are engaged in legitimate activity like you said, and will instead be used almost exclusively as a way to protect ICE and punish brown people. I want to support a law like this because of the people that it is intended to help, but also fully acknowledge the reality of the world we live in and know how a law like this will most likely end up being (ab)used in the real world. Hence, the conflict.