Roy Exum
What’s this? Several large fights broke out at Howard High’s commencement Friday night and two people were actually thrown over the guard rail at Finley Stadium. Security was unable to contain the melee yet urgent 911 calls dispatched the Chattanooga Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, and even Red Bank’s Police responded. Net result? One arrest. Only one.
Earlier this month we’ve seen “peaceful” protests as a prelude to the coming Roe v.
Wade decision across the country where vulgar signage, profanity-laced bullhorns and upraised middle fingers are not peaceful at all. There has been vandalism, trespassers disrupting sacred Mass services, and invasions into otherwise peaceful neighborhoods. But no arrests for “disturbing the peace.” No one is held accountable.
So the universal message is that it’s OK to violate the rights of many civil Americans because the hooligans among us can run rampant not six feet from a police officer who has been ordered to “stand down.” I am hardly endorsing a police state and will defend a peaceful rally. But when thugs disrupt a commencement celebration or set flags on fire, it is time to say, “No … not here …” and rigidly enforce the law.
Already there have been death threats made to the Supreme Court justices. Yes, probably by cowards but what? With 36 mass shootings in the United States since January, we can discount nothing, and after the heinous attacks on the nation’s Capitol last year, don’t tell me some wacko won’t try to torch the Supreme Court building.
In Hamilton County we are spending millions on education. That’s wonderful. Both the Chattanooga mayor and the new county mayor want to be leaders in public education, but until the City Council and the County Commissioners take a stern stance and demand law enforcement fulfill its duty, the knuckleheads will disrupt classrooms, cafeterias, and sporting events.
To ignore large fights like the despicable behavior seen at Howard’s graduation only emboldens the so-called gangs and to make no arrests when riffraff infects “peaceful protesters” and twists demonstrations into taunting spectacles of hate and anger, it will only get worse.
The Department of Homeland Security is dreading the Roe v. Wade announcement, hinting protests will escalate into violence, but at Howard High what happens next is even worse … what does tomorrow hold for the students who just graduated? With lax controls and police unable to locate at least two who were thrown over the rail, where does the Class of 2022 go from here? It hardly takes a college degree to predict where are we going from here.
And that, our mayors, is an ‘F’ in education.
royexum@aol.com