Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke calls out Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.
Marc Sarnoff kills me. A couple of weeks ago, the city commissioner representing Miami's most affluent district appeared on Issues, Helen Ferre's program on WBPT-TV (Channel 2), to defend the police shootings of seven African-American males. This man was tripping. First, he came out saying how much he loves guns and supports the right to bear arms. Sarnoff even said he owns more than ten guns. Whom is he hunting? Whom is he scared of?
Then he began justifying why it is OK for a police officer to shoot first and ask questions later. Following up on the seven shootings in black parts of the city since last summer, he told Ferre police officers are nervous when they pull people over in certain neighborhoods. He said he understood why they would shoot someone who ducked down in a car. Sarnoff is the worst politician in Florida. He is even worse than former Gov. Bob Martinez and ex-Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro, whom I tussled with when I was fighting for free speech in the 1990s. Even though I strongly disagreed with them, I still respected their opinions. That is not the case with Sarnoff.
I had to watch the show twice because I could not believe what Sarnoff was saying. He is the antichrist. Don't get me wrong. I understand Miami Police have a difficult job going after the most violent criminals in our neighborhoods. Criminals who shoot police are dead wrong and should be taken off the streets. But Sarnoff is using good work by good officers to cover up the fatal mistakes being made by bad or inexperienced ones. He is making it seem as though there is a war going on in Liberty City and Overtown. Sarnoff used props such as an AK-47 banana and drum clips to make his case.
Sarnoff said when a police officer drives up behind someone, pulls up their rap sheet, and sees a bunch of gun charges, the officer is going to feel scared. He might even be justified in killing the suspect because his hand slips off the steering wheel. If that's the case, then why did the Miami Police Department go almost two years without shooting somebody when John Timoney was in charge?
And what happens to the rehabilitated guy who comes home from prison after serving ten years for a crime he committed when he was a 30-year-old? What if that individual, who is now 40 years old and doesn't possess any firearms, is coming home to his family from a late shift cleaning offices in downtown Miami when he gets pulled over? In Sarnoff's opinion, it is OK for a cop to shoot that man when a hand slips off the wheel. That is wrong. People like Sarnoff don't deserve to hold office anywhere in the United States of America.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.
