welcome step, but a monumental task ahead:”’It’s not okay for a police officer to be a member of a Nazi group, and we don’t have any policy that says we can’t be a member of such,” he said. “We don’t have anything specific that addresses these hate groups” https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/district-police-extremist-background-checks/2021/02/12/b50d793c-6c6f-11eb-9ead-673168d5b874_story.html

but it’s the union response that really worries me. zero understanding of what modern WSE & far right extremism looks like. “You don’t have a bunch of Klansmen running around here. If we did, they would be found out pretty quickly. You can’t hide those kind of things,” he said

if you think modern extremism is “a bunch of Klansman” running around, pls pls read my book. Or @julie_renbe or @sjacks26 or @seywarddarby or @itsa_talia books. That response speaks volumes about how much need there is for training. Sigh.

This wasn’t supposed to be a thread so i didn’t number it, sorry. Just so infuriated. You “can’t hide” these things? That is exactly what is happening. Being uninformed is one thing. But so uninformed AND so supremely confident? That is something else. If racism is only racism ?/

when it comes in a package with a Klan hood or a swastika tattoo? All I can say is we can’t simply train ourselves out of this. This has to be a bigger, years-long approach & it has to include experts on anti-racism working alongside experts on extremism. From education ?/

mental health, coaches, parents, caregivers, mayors. We have to root it out of law enforcement & military. But how can they root it out if they can’t even recognize it? /END