Plus, what you can do. Monday, June 15, 2020 To: Friends & Supporters From: Gary Bauer The Left vs. Law Enforcement Reports are increasing of police officers being attacked and assaulted. In addition, their families and children are being harassed. As a result, law enforcement officers are resigning. In Minneapolis, seven police officers have resigned and another seven are in the process of leaving the force. Given that the city council wants to defund the police, it is unlikely that those officers will be replaced. In Hallandale Beach, Florida, the entire SWAT team resigned en masse. Meanwhile, the assault on law enforcement not only continues, it is accelerating. Julian Keen, Jr., a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officer, was shot and killed over the weekend. Those who knew him described Keen as "a role model for the community" and someone who would "literally give his shirt off his back to ANYONE who needed it." By the way, Keen was a black American. Las Vegas Police Officer Shay Mikalonis, who was shot in the head two weeks ago by a rioter, remains on a ventilator, unable to speak and paralyzed from the neck down. If a radical force wanted to bring America to its knees, one of its central goals would be to demoralize, isolate and destroy law enforcement. That is exactly what is underway right now. And as the police shrink, it will be urban, poor minority neighborhoods that suffer the most. Fewer cops means more crime. Look at what is happening in New York, where progressive policies dominate. While state officials were busy packing Covid patients into nursing homes, they were eagerly releasing criminals back onto the streets so the prisons could comply with social distancing. As a result, 250 released offenders have been re-arrested 450 times! As former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino put it: "This fight is coming to your door. . . You're going to have to pick a side. . . There is a right and wrong to this argument. There's no question, and the right side is the side of the good police officers and law and order." What You Can Do I am regularly told that decent people of all races are afraid to publicly stand with the police. We have seen a number of businesses and institutions apologize for supporting their local law enforcement officers. (Here, here and here.) The cancel culture has now come for TV shows about cops. And a Delaware memorial to police officers was vandalized. This is sickening, and a sign of how tenuous our situation has become. Some commentators are describing our situation today as similar to that of the late 1960s. Well, I remember the late 60s, and a lot of people back then put bumper stickers on their cars proudly supporting the police. I am not asking you to do that. But has your church reached out to your local police department? Has your church prayed for those who enforce our laws? Have you sat down with children and grandchildren and explained why they should respect the police? Have you thanked a police officer or sheriff's deputy lately? If you live in a congressional district represented by a far-left progressive, send them a message telling them to stop demonizing the police. If you live a congressional district represented by a conservative, tell your representative that you expect them speak up for law enforcement. It really shouldn't be that hard for them -- Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, oppose the left's radical idea of defunding the police. The Left's War On America The attacks on monuments to our founders and even our war dead continued over the weekend. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution was desecrated on Friday. Someone spray painted on this monument to our Revolutionary War heroes "Committed Genocide." Radical activists are demanding that Boston officials tear down a statue dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator. A statue of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was toppled in Portland, Oregon. A memorial to George Washington, the father of our country, was vandalized in Chicago. Three years ago, President Trump predicted exactly this when he warned that the left's assault on America's history was a dangerous slippery slope. He said: "So this week it's Robert E. Lee. . . I wonder: Is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself — where does it stop?" There was a slight glimmer of what a healthy society should do when historic monuments come under attack. In Brandenburg, Kentucky and Philadelphia, local citizens turned out on their own after hearing that the mob was coming for statues in their communities. They blocked the radical activists and the monuments remained. When social media reports suggested the Alamo, where Texas liberty was born, might be a target, Land Commissioner George P. Bush made it absolutely clear that the Alamo Rangers and the San Antonio Police Department were ready. It is striking that progressive mayors are not doing the same thing in their cities. By the way, a statue of Christopher Columbus was vandalized in Providence, Rhode Island, over the weekend. The police later announced that they had arrested and charged a middle school social studies teacher with felony desecration. I have no doubt that this teacher was regularly tearing down Columbus in his classroom. Fighting Anti-Semitism While the United States was celebrating American Jewish Heritage Month in May, the global Jewish community was experiencing a further increase in anti-Semitic incidents. As usual, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, was a supreme offender. As many of you know, I serve as a Trump-appointee on the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). While the Commission confronts so many critical issues, I have urged USCIRF to make the fight against anti-Semitism a greater priority, especially as more and more research shows that this ancient evil is making a resurgence. Today, The Forward published an opinion piece co-authored by Sen. James Lankford, USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin and me. In the column, we condemn the alarming rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes around the world and note what the U.S. government is doing to combat it. You can read it here. MAKE YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION NOW As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, donations to American Values are tax deductible for federal income tax purposes. 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