Michigan Police Officer Is Terminated After K.K.K. Application Was Found in His Home
Source: Associated Press
A prospective homebuyer found Confederate flags and a framed Ku Klux Klan application in the officers house in Holton, Mich.
Officer Charles Anderson of the Muskegon Police Department in Michigan was terminated on Thursday.CreditCreditKayla Renie/Muskegon Chronicle, via Associated Press
By Mariel Padilla
Sept. 13, 2019, 8:50 p.m. ET
A police officer in Michigan was terminated on Thursday after a prospective homebuyer who had been touring the officers house posted a picture on social media of a framed Ku Klux Klan application he had seen there, spurring an internal investigation.
Frank Peterson, the city manager of Muskegon, confirmed on Friday that the officer, Charles Anderson, had been terminated, but said a report on the inquiry conducted by the Muskegon Police Department would not be released until next week.
The city announced on Aug. 8 that Officer Anderson, who is white and had been with the department for more than two decades, had been placed on administrative leave after he was found in possession of certain items associated with a white supremacist group. That announcement came one day after Rob Mathis, the prospective homebuyer, posted on Facebook the photo of the application, which is blank.
Although details of the investigation have not been released, Jeffrey Lewis, chief of the Police Department and Muskegons director of public safety, told the citys commissioners on Aug. 27, What you saw on social media is pretty much the way it is.
. . .
Mr. Mathis, 52, an Army veteran who is black, said that the picture he had posted on Facebook of the K.K.K. application had drawn hundreds of messages, some supporting what he had done and others condemning or threatening him. He also said that the police had warned him about a death threat.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/us/officer-charles-anderson-ku-klux-klan.html
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)And no doubt the police would have us believe, that in all that time, NO ONE ever noticed a thing that might be...off.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)in an attic of a Holton home, dated from the 20's or 30's, they auctioned the stuff off and that caused quite a stir at the time.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)I drive through it a few times a week. Its one of many dying little towns in MI.
catbyte
(34,534 posts)I lived about 30 miles away from it for over 30 years.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)napi21
(45,806 posts)sight any objects that would get you into hot water? Thank goodness for Rob Mathis posting this info on social media and exposed this cop. Makes me wonder how many others like Anderson (or worse) are hiding their memberships in white supremacist groups, and what kind of jobs they hold. Are any in positions of authority where they can take their hatred out on black employees or customers?
Lochloosa
(16,083 posts)napi21
(45,806 posts)organization, and as such, a partner in criminal actions..
Lochloosa
(16,083 posts)quakerboy
(13,923 posts)Confederate flag table mats, near the confederate flags hanging in the garage.
onetexan
(13,079 posts)I'm sure if the police department dug into it they will have found evidence of his participation in the local KKK chapters.
Igel
(35,387 posts)Sorts of things you'd get as a prize for being a good Communist.
And let's not get into either the red/white/black poster above my printer, "Klinom krasnym bei belykh" (Beat the whites with the red wedge"--a reference to the White and Red Armies, nothing racial), or the "Krasnoi armii--slava!" poster above that. Or the picture taken at Gatlinburg, TN, with friends in the '80s, the now out gay Frenchman in his Confederate infantry uniform or a (now dead) friend and me in Confederate officers' uniforms, with our mutual friend in a suitable lady's dress. I'm no more a Confederate sympathizer than I am a supporter of Leninist-Stalinist scientific Marxism.
While there are people more anti-Soviet than me, I'm pretty out there. That hasn't kept people from accusing me of being pro-Soviet and Communist. I also have a cheap Russian icon propped up on the wall; my version of Jesus is very much not the Orthodox version, but I've been asked if I'm Orthodox, and it certainly clashes with the Soviet kitsch. Of course, I can deny that I'm the things I'm not, but that seldom dissuades anybody from being fervently wrong. After all, the evidence is iron-clad. Meh.
The KKK application was blank, old, framed, and hanging on the wall. Not filled out and waiting in a stamped envelope. More iron-clad evidence.
quakerboy
(13,923 posts)The first thing I noticed walking through the dining room was a Confederate flag placemat on the table,
Plus two confederate flags in the garage. And then the framed KKK application upstairs.
Ima trust the black man who walked into the house when he says I walked into the most racist home Ive ever been in in my life, to know the difference between historical/collector pieces and.. a racist decorating his home accordingly.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Because normally, I would say I want some of what you're smoking, but I don't really want anything that's going to make me that obtuse.
LuvNewcastle
(16,867 posts)I have a problem with people being penalized for items hanging on the walls of their own homes. Im guessing that the guy didnt want to fight over this shit while hes so close to retirement, but this case is not clear-cut and should ordinarily be dropped.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Well, that's your problem. I have a problem with terrorist Klan sympathizers in positions of power over others. I don't know you, but if I had to guess, I'm guessing you're not African American or Jewish. Would that be correct?
LuvNewcastle
(16,867 posts)or if it was some sort of membership agreement instead, but it looks like it could be part of a display about racist groups. Seems like the application would have been filled out, otherwise. If they researched the guy as a result of all this and found him guilty, thats fine, Im just saying I dont think the guy should be fired simply for having those things in his house.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)If you want to lie to yourself and pretend that's all some innocent collection, that's your business. The rest of us have to live in reality. And given that you ducked my question about being African American or Jewish, I'm guessing that means you're not.
How easy it must be for you then, to not a give a shit about the potential consequences for those minority groups by allowing this man to walk around with a badge. While at the same time expressing sincere worry about this man civil rights being violated over his collection of racist displays. Hmmm...let me guess, you probably don't think there's such a thing as white privilege either?
Polybius
(15,522 posts)I have the old General Lee car from the Dukes of Hazzard from when I was a kid. Could I be fired if someone were to see it?
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)That's your response to this?
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)and portray it as nothing more than a harmless hobby. Y'all need to seriously reexamine your so-called liberal credentials.
Grokenstein
(5,730 posts)...and there's a clown who looks just like this one muttering quietly in the back. Gradually, his mutterings become clearer: "Get off the bus, n****r. Get off the bus, n****r." There's only one black person on the bus and he's sitting well ahead of me, apparently (and hopefully) oblivious to this particular instance of racist-asshole insanity.
Bus stops. Fit young black man gets on, just happens to sit on the back row across from the clown. CLOWN IMMEDIATELY GOES SILENT. NATURALLY. Clown gets off at the next stop, and I LOL at the clown as he scurries past me. How many times does he change buses to get where he could easily take one if he weren't such a paranoid racist asshole?
3Hotdogs
(12,462 posts)A teacher in N.J. has his license threatened because he used the "N" word, under his breath, after a frustrating encounter with students.
The board of ed sued and lost at the state level. They are appealing.
Are there indications the cops job performance was hindered by his beliefs?
KKK is odious but illegal?
I would argue, however, the cop is now useless as a witness in a court, against a black defendant.
yardwork
(61,772 posts)Every job has certain requirements. A cop who can't testify in court can't do his job.
3Hotdogs
(12,462 posts)yardwork
(61,772 posts)Racial bias disqualifies him. He knew that when he was hired.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)End of story.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)and torture. It has murdered children. It may not have an official designation as a domestic terror group, but you can thank good old fashioned racism and white privilege for that, because they should be. So the answer to your question is, never. This is way beyond thought crime. This is about someone who has the power of life and liberty over others being a sympathizer of a terrorist group. That is not okay. Not now, not ever. Instant disqualification. No if's, and's, or buts about it.
And as for the teacher having his license threatened for using the "N" word under his breath as you put it, good. No excuse for that either.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,380 posts)I don't see that he committed any crime, or posted anything hateful or offensive on social media. He had some stuff in his house.
Perhaps the case could be made against the prospective home-buyer, Mr Mathis, who did post hateful stuff on Facebook.
I bet Officer Anderson will enjoy a prosperous retirement.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)
Progressive Jones This message was self-deleted by its author.
AllaN01Bear
(18,745 posts)multiply him by thousands ,,
TeamPooka
(24,292 posts)in the name of justice to the public he serves has been lost by him and as such he has no value to this police department.