6/14/2020

Friend, DJT,    

            I’m sorry that it’s not a happy day for your 74th birthday. I wish I could focus on the “Trumptillas” that your fans have been having for the past few weeks in Charleston Harbor, Lake Havasu, the Detroit River & San Diego, Bay, but the news of the latest murder of an unarmed Black man in Atlanta at the hands of the police has overshadowed the spark of joy I might have had from seeing so many people having fun riding in their boats.

            I am distraught that I have to add more names to the list of BIPOC whose deaths illustrate the white supremacy that poisons our nation. Today’s additions, Rayshard Brooks apprehended for sleeping in his car in a Wendy’s Drive-through & Robert Fuller, found hanging in a tree in Palmdale, are fueling the revolution I wrote to you about yesterday.  I’m afraid that police aren’t getting the message about their brutality & some profoundly disturbed individuals may be incited to hate crimes.

            I encourage you to reach out to Lawrence Sherman, Director of the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing in England. He was on NPR yesterday talking about how the British police are different from the American police. He noted the, “British philosophy (is) that you don't try to dominate the population with force. You try to build consent.” I encourage you to shift your discourse to talk more about “de-escalation” rather than “domination.” I wonder what would happen if you uttered the words, “Black Lives Matter.” It might help.

            HYITL,