“Please do not feel the need to call 911 for help,” a Nevada sheriff wrote after a library proposed a diversity statement.
A Nevada library was constrained expel a proposed diversity explanation from its Facebook page after grievances from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The County Public Library Board of Trustees had shared its support for the Black Lives Matter development and composed an announcement censuring “all acts of violence, racism and disregard for human rights.”
“Due to your support of Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, please do not feel the need to call 911 for help,” local sheriff Dan Coverley responded to the proposed statement in an open letter addressed to the Library Board. “I wish you good luck with disturbances and lewd behavior, since those are just some of the recent calls my office has assisted you with in the past.”
In his letter — distributed on the police office’s site — Coverley additionally blamed Black Lives Matter protestors for causing “savagery, property harm and the [closure] of neighborhood businesses, in some cases for all time.”
“To support this movement is to support violence and to openly ask for it to happen in Douglas County,” he wrote.
Talking with the Washington Post, library executive Amy Dodson said the diversity statement was not intended to be hostile to police, but instead an empowering message of solidarity.
“It simply was meant to state our inclusivity at the library, that we are open and welcoming to everyone and we treat everyone equally,” Dodson said.
After the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office distributed Coverley’s letter, the library apparently dropped its Tuesday meeting (July 28), which had been planned to examine the diversity proclamation. As indicated by the Reno Gazette Journal, County Spokeswoman Melissa Blosser said the gathering was dropped due to the “overwhelming amount of community response.” The library later removed the diversity statement from its Facebook page.
“We had them take it down,” Blosser told the outlet. “We cannot use public owned media to propagate a political agenda.”
As per Blosser, the sheriff’s area of expertise has explained that they will keep on reacting to possible 911 calls from the library, regardless of Sheriff Coverley’s threat.
© 2020, Jonathan P-Wright. All rights reserved.
