Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher was accused of racism after making a comment about criminals leaving town by “sundown” during a Live on Patrol video. Critics called his comment “disgusting” and “unacceptable.” In the clip of the incident, Fletcher says, “100 years ago, though, we woulda just told them, ‘OK, son, you got ’til sundown to get outta of town.’”
Whittier Cop Watch, an activist group that is seeking the abolition of the police, posted about the incident, saying “Y’all cool with your officers live-streaming them reminiscing about the ‘benefits’ of sundown towns?”
Here’s a video clip from a livestream last night hosted by Ramsey Co. Sheriff Bob Fletcher in which he says, referring to “criminals” vaguely, “100 years ago, we woulda told em, okay son, you got til sundown to get outta town” pic.twitter.com/Rql9q07t9p
— Whittier Cop Watch (@whittcopwatch) July 7, 2021
Sundown towns were towns that during the days of segregation had laws that required people of color to leave the town or be in their homes after sundown. Sundown towns were also known as sunset towns, grey towns, and sundowner towns.
Whittier Cop Watch went on to tweet Fletcher’s response to the Pioneer Press, where Fletcher said, “Obviously they never watched the same Westerns that I did where the Sheriff told the gunslingers to get out of the town. There were no racial connotations intended whatsoever. The bad guys in the Westerns were white.”
Yesterday, we saw @RamseySheriff Bob Fletcher double down on his racism in response to being called out for his use of racist tropes on a livestream that aired earlier this week.
Well buckle up, kiddos. This thread is about to be WCW’s response.
— Whittier Cop Watch (@whittcopwatch) July 10, 2021
Whittier Cop Watch responded to Fletcher’s statement by saying it was “unsettling, to say the least, to know that police officers are in the streets impersonating and daydreaming about their favorite movie stars and films while influencing real life situations that affect our neighbors’ very real lives.” The account went on to explain their belief that the Western movie genre is racist and promotes “Manifest Destiny.”
It is also unsettling, to say the least, to know that police officers are in the streets impersonating and day dreaming about their favorite movie stars and films while influencing real life situations that effect our neighbors’ very real lives.
— Whittier Cop Watch (@whittcopwatch) July 10, 2021
Whittier Cop Watch said, “It’s clear he doesn’t have a problem consuming racist content. Idolizing racist content. Daydreaming about ‘better days’ where white men in his position held tighter dominion over others around them.”
Fletcher, who has been doing Live on Patrol videos during his shifts for about a year, said he had never heard of a racist connotation for the word. Fletcher started doing the Live on Patrol videos “to help inform and educate the public regarding the job of law enforcement in hopes of building community trust and relationships through transparency.”
Many, including some local government officials, are now calling for Fletcher to resign after the incident.
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network and The College Fix. She graduated with a degree in Communications from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Send news tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bob Fletcher” by Bob Fletcher.
Yet this liberal group has no problem with criminals hanging around and killing our children?
So typical of gaslighting Democrats!