*We find the words of John McNesby beyond disturbing.
McNesby, the president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, called Black Lives Matter protesters “a pack of rabid animals” and “a racist hate [group] determined to to instigate violence.”
However, with Donald Trump in the White House, a man who encourages police violence and equates Nazis with Nazi protesters, it should come as no surprise.
McNesby made his comments at a “Back the Blue” rally Thursday night. According to Complex, the rally was in response to a Black Lives Matter protest outside the house of Ryan Pownall, the officer who shot and killed a man named David Jones during a traffic stop in June.
The story goes that back in June, Pownall stopped Jones, who was driving a dirt bike, for reckless driving. Police say Pownall felt a handgun in Jones’s waistband as he pat him down. After a struggle, Jones allegedly grabbed his gun, and Pownall fired his weapon, but it jammed. At that point Jones bstarted running away, and Pownall fatally shot him in the back. Jones is the second black man Pownall has shot in the back. In 2010 he shot Carnell Williams-Carney, 36, who has been in a wheelchair ever since.
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“When you go to work each day, you shouldn’t have to worry that a pack of rabid animals will suddenly show up at your home and openly threaten your family,” McNesby said. “These are not activists, they are racist hate groups determined to instigate violence.”
The report also details that last year McNesby defended a cop who appeared to have a large Nazi tattoo on his forearm. When photos of officer, Ian Hans Lichtermann, appeared on Twitter with what many believed were symbols from Hitler’s Nazi party, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kinney called the tattoo “incredibly offensive.” But McNesby, on the other hand, said, “It’s an Eagle. Not a big deal.”
Meanwhile, Asa Khalif, a Black Lives Matter activist in Philadelphia, said neither she nor fellow protestors are concerned by McNesby’s words.
“We will not let words stop us,” Khalif told NBC. “The only words we’re using is justice for David Jones, and we will not be sidetracked by the bullying tactics of the FOP.”
