The Ongoing Struggle for Control of Local Police

Anyone watching the disturbing videos of the arrest of Mr. Tyre Nichols has lots of unanswered questions. We won’t attempt to speculate about what went on, as much more information will be coming out, especially at the upcoming trials of the police officers involved.

However, there is a certain organized segment within America that advocates for not letting a crisis like this go to waste. Looking back into history, we’ll explain how that organized segment may use Mr. Nichols death to their advantage.

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American exceptionalism. Those are two words we rarely hear anymore. The original concept had nothing to do with the people, the land, or its resources. Rather it had everything to do with our system of government. Unique in every way to that of all other governments instituted throughout the world. Yet, it’s something we take for granted. And you know what they say about taking something for granted, that you don’t know what you have, until it’s gone.

And there are forces working to take away that system. To “burn it down,” to use their words.

Former CEO of The John Birch Society, Mr. Art Thompson recently completed a first draft of a book on American exceptionalism. Let me read some quotes to further the discussion, specifically from Chapter Four: Local Police.

He begins, “Our local police system is an aspect of American Exceptionalism … .

“What makes America exceptional in regard to the police is that the United States is the only country which has a completely independent system of law enforcement under the control of local citizens through their elected representatives on their city council. Other countries may appear to have such a system, but even those who have some semblance of being local departments are regulated by their national government.

“Most countries have a national system of police. Often, they are used to control the citizens as much as they control crime. They are used to keep the powers-that-be in power. In many cases, they are draconian. In communist countries this is obvious. It is not always as obvious in some countries. It is a velvet glove rather than an iron fist.”

He continues, “There has been a debate raging across America regarding the police in our communities. This debate has been provoked by forces which want to so alter American society to make it over into a socialist state. Many may doubt this statement, nonetheless it is true.”

In 2015, Patrice Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, made this statement:

She and another co-founder are trained Marxists. Plus, according to Breitbart News, “Eric Mann, who mentored Cullors for over a decade in community organizing, was a member of radical-left militant groups: Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, which bombed government buildings and police stations in the 1960s and 1970s.”

Let’s continue from Mr. Thompson’s book. He wrote, “The general idea of police protection, especially local police, is under attack just as other aspects of American Exceptionalism. It has been for some time. Sometimes this attack is subtle and other times very open and overt. It is coordinated in general by Marxists within our midst as well as foreign interests, especially from communist China.

“The attacks come from street mobs organized by Marxists as well as within metropolitan governments where the people do not understand the backgrounds of the people they have elected into their local government. In many cases, George Soros money and backing used to elect officials have been blamed for these local government problems.”

An interesting thing about these attacks. Big Media will usually report on these as spontaneous, which is just as true as their labelling of riots as “mostly peaceful protests.” All one has to do is to look at the signs carried by protestors. Many are professionally made and denote a specific organization. For instance, photos of some of these signs over the weekend listed “Party for Socialism and Liberation.”

Its website boldly proclaims, “For the planet to live capitalism must end.”

In fact, to help bolster Mr. Thompson’s research, parts of the PSL website offer articles translated into Chinese.

In an opinion article posted at The Guardian, the author, who supports the anti-police movement, asks the question, “What would have saved Tyre Nichols life? All of the reforms that liberals suggest will save Black lives were present in Tyre’s death.”

She made mention that diversity was present, body cameras were worn and recording, they didn’t shoot Mr. Nichols, and Memphis police department had also met all features of Campaign Zero’s #8CantWait campaign. She also wrote, “MPD hired its first Black woman police chief in 2021 and holds Black History Knowledge bowls and basketball programs to ‘build trust’ and relationships with local teenagers.”

So, what do they want and would it have saved Mr. Nichols?

The PSL website suggests, “The foundation of any state power is repressive force—the military, police, prisons, courts and so on. The standing army and police must be disbanded and replaced by the armed people, organized in workers’ defense councils. A critical task of the new socialist order will be defending itself from the displaced capitalist class that would like to return to the days of exploitation.”

In other words, armed revolution leading to a Communist police state. A video on the PSL website suggests that PSL is using Marxism-Leninism to help analyze the current situation in society.

Here’s how Lenin described the situation in Pravda in 1918: “We are not waging war against separate individuals; we are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class …. Do not ask for incriminating evidence to prove that the prisoner opposed the Soviet Government either by arms or word. Your first duty is to ask him what class he belongs to, what were his origin, education, and occupation. These questions should decide the fate of the prisoner. This is the meaning and essence of Red Terror.”

Pravda was the official media organ for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This Red Terror resulted in the deaths of at least a million people, probably closer to two million.

On Fox News, videos of protests were published with speakers espousing violent Black Power doctrine, encouraging people to fight back. It’s the same type of rhetoric seen during the massive and violent riots in 2020.

In 1961, the U.S. Senate subcommittee released a report on the Communist Plot Against the Free World Police. An excerpt reads, “… many of us know what is back of the mob violence which we have been considering. It is probable, however, that few of the demonstrators realize that they are victims of a war that is being waged in the free world today. It is a life-and-death struggle between communism, which makes the people the slaves of the state, and free world democracy, in which the state carries out the will of the people.

Our police are among the foremost guardians of freedom and thus a major target of the Communists. The better the force, the greater its efficiency, the higher its competence in preserving the peace, the more vital it is for the Communists to destroy it.”

In 1963, The John Birch Society launched its Support Your Local Police and Keep Them Independent campaign. Our goal is to not let the local police be turned into a national police force that does the will of a tyrannical state. Rather it protects the bond of accountability to the local communities served by local officers.

When individual police officers fail in their duty, local accountability will make sure there is justice, without the tentacles of the federal government getting involved. Unfortunately, as Mr. Thompson suggest in his upcoming book, “With the call for more funding and manpower in the wake of the defunding the police movement by Marxists, [George] Soros-backed prosecutors, and the subsequent rise in crime, the situation is being supported by both Left and Right to have more federal involvement in the local police. This will ultimately lead to a federal system which will be out of the hands of the local people.

“If this happens, then this element of American Exceptionalism will be a thing of the past and we will become just like all other countries where the people are controlled by the police rather than the people controlling their local police through their local government.”

The John Birch Society stands behind the concept of local law enforcement being accountable to the communities they serve. This hallmark of freedom has helped to define American exceptionalism, and it will see justice done. You’re beginning to see the initial stages of this in Memphis. Again, many questions remain, but what is evident is that lives were shattered, and the local community will help to pick up the pieces and to serve justice. For in-depth analysis about the organizations behind the anti-police movement, The New American did a special report about this in 2020 during those riots. You can access it in print or online.

Then watch and share our video describing the difference between local police and national police and why the founders wanted it to be kept local.

I’m Bill Hahn for The John Birch Society and until next time, stay informed, stay active, and get involved patriots!