Don’t treat deaths by vigilante as a patriotic act

Editor:

On Facebook today a person put the American Flag all over a meme celebrating that Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted. The person probably was not thinking and it took me a while to figure out what really upset me about it.

If this was war and we were celebrating war heroes using the flag would be appropriate. But when a grand jury has indicted a man for homicide, the case was very legally flawed, a view of the last few seconds could effect if lesser charges were appropriate, and the jury system in this country is uniquely structured in favor of acquittal, there are lots of things to argue. But none involve flying the flag.

More about the suppressed evidence will come out. Some will not care about what the law and facts show in our tabloid society.

But I hope people understand that vigilantes – a hanging posse – are not legal and this verdict did not sanction that. Bringing a gun to a demonstration to police it and killing someone is a serious matter. Only the police and the activated National Guard can carry out police duties.

So celebrating anything involving death as a patriotic act is not American and smacks of applauding death as a proper consequence for those you politically disagree with.

Being there was incredibly stupid. Having O.J. Simpson’s jury consultants and two mock trials to practice showed the value of money. There is lot to intelligently discuss. But two deaths matter and are not a matter of political discourse or some perverse victory.

That’s just wrong.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion