‘Back the Blue’ rallies spreading nationwide despite ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Defund the Police’ rhetoric
LAW ENFORCEMENT TODAY
All across America we are seeing rally’s being organized in support of law enforcement. This comes at a time when policing has come under fire after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis back in May.
Critics have rioted and called for reforms causing many police officers to feel disheartened and underappreciate.
As The Patch reported, in Wantagh NY this past week over 1,000 people gathered for a march in support of Law Enforcment.
The article stated:
“More than a thousand people participated in a rally in Wantagh on Sunday to express their support for police officers and other law enforcement agents. The demonstration comes in response to activist calls to reduce funding for — or even abolish — police departments, and nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
“The Sunday rally began at Wantagh High School and moved to the Wantagh Long Island Rail Road train station. Marchers waved American flags and held signs showing support for police officers. The marchers were escorted by Nassau County police.”
Also this past weekend rallies were held in Omaha, Nebraska and Fredericksburg Virginia, with hundreds of people attending to show their support of law enforcement.
Vice President Mike Pence will be in Pennsylvania this upcoming weekend and one of his stops will be an FOP Lodge in Philadelphia.
“Pence will take a bus tour from Lancaster to Philadelphia, including taking part in a roundtable discussion at Rajant Corp., a suburban Philadelphia maker of wireless communication technology, his office said. Then he will speak to Philadelphia police officers at their union hall, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, in the city before they hold a ‘Back the Blue’ rally.”
These rallies are proof that there is a silent majority out there who are in support of law enforcement and want to do something to show their appreciation.
Back in late June there were similar gatherings to show support for police officers and they were met with some resistance, as police protesters arrived to voice their disapproval.
The Boston Globe reported that during a pro-police rally being held on back on June 27th at The State House in Boston, protesters who were attending a separate march arrived and taunted the 50 or so people who were peacefully rallying to show support for law enforcement.
Law Enforcement Today brought you a story earlier this week in which Ohio State Representative Jay Edwards (R) attended a “defend the police” rally in Athens, Ohio. Edwards was followed to his car and assaulted with bottles and spit on by counter-protesters.
See that story below.
Organizers of these rallies as well as the citizens who are proudly attending them are crucial right now. Members of law enforcement need to know they have support.
The mainstream media is only showing America the anti-police movement, not covering anything showing support of law enforcement. If you went by what the mainstream media is telling you, a person could easily believe that there is little to no support for the police whatsoever.
We know that’s not true.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage to attend a rally in support of the police during these tumultuous times and you can almost guarantee there will be people there to protest the police. The fact that people are still making signs and waving the Thin Blue Line flag is indicative of their need to be heard.
They have sat in silence for too long and watched as their police officers have been attacked, verbally and physically.
Here’s the story we brought you on Ohio Representative Edwards.
A Republican Ohio state representative said he was attacked by protesters as he attended a rally to honor police officers.
According to The Columbia Dispatch, Rep. Jay Edwards said he was followed to his car by a group of counter protesters who shouted insults, blocked his path, spit and threw bottles at him as he attempted to leave a “Defend the Police” rally in Athens on Sunday.
Edwards told The Columbia Dispatch:
“It was very odd to see someone take down their mask to spit on you. I wouldn’t say that I was scared. It was an eerie feeling.”
An account on Facebook named Eli Bugsy proudly posted video footage of protesters following Edwards to a vehicle.
That video has since been deleted.
“High energy at the counter protest to the ‘Defend the Police’ action at the courthouse. We chased our racist state rep Jay Edwards to his car but the police stopped us from blocking him in.
Eventually we crossed the street and surrounded the pro-cop holdouts. People started debating with the racists and eventually, they got the last one to put down his rifle on the sidewalk, which was seen as a win.
I think it was the smallest of wins and it took black folks hours of labor to get it, so I hesitate to even post the video where we’re all clapping and cheering about it.
We live in small town appalachia though, and I have hope for these white folks.”
On his Facebook post, Edwards posted a link to a video taken at the rally and said:
“Today was an interesting day. I attended a Defend the Police Rally at the Athens Courthouse. The turnout was amazing. The people in support of the police were of all walks of life. Democrats, Republicans, Men, Women, Black, White, Etc.
“Towards the end of the event, a counter protest showed up. Some people brought their small children. I couldn’t believe they would subject them to the language they chose to shout.
I had a few of them walk across the street and have a dialogue. It took about 10 minutes to find out they actually agreed with me more than the side they were originally on.
“When I decided to leave, I was rushed and surrounded. The video shows the end of things, but doesn’t show everything. What it doesn’t show…I was spit on, bumped into, and had liquids and bottles thrown at me.
I even heard one person mention that the masks were being worn to protect their identities. These cowards didn’t worry me, but was happy to have the police there just in case. They did help in not allowing them to surround my car.
“The good news.. the Defending the Police side was not only much more diverse, but outnumbered the other side greatly. To the police there to help me today, Thank You! To all the police out there being attacked right now, Thank You! You have a job that not many would ever do..especially right now.
“P.S. It was quite odd to realize I just recently helped a few of the people saying ‘F*** Jay Edwards’ with their unemployment last week. I guess they were okay with me when they needed my help. Similar to the police, they hate them until they need them. The irony.
“Video courtesy of The Post.”
A group called Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) SE Ohio organized the counter rally, which they called “Defend Our Community.” On their Facebook page, some suggested Edwards was lying about the spit and bottles.
Em Hepp posted on the public Facebook page of SURJ:
“People that were at the protest say that he was not spit on and bottles were not thrown. Anyone with video of the interaction might want to forward it on to the dispatch for clarification.”
A person named Scott Mooney responded to Hepp’s post and claimed the attacks never happened:
“I was standing right next to him when this happened. Nothing was thrown at him. He was splashed with water, from a water bottle, and I told the kid who did it to stop, and he did. This guy is a lying POS.”
Edwards told The Columbia Dispatch that someone had spit at him before the video recording started:
“I was completely surrounded. I stopped walking. I realized if I continued walking I would have to start touching people, pushing them to get past. That’s a point, in my opinion, where it’s gone too far.”
Edwards also said that’s when Athens police officers walked over and escorted him to his car:
“It’s a good example of why I defend the police.”