Thanks for the courage you've shown to take on the crazed left. My wife turned me on to the interview you did with Elder recently. Wish I could have my step-son watch it but he'd more than likely run away screaming and we'd never hear from him again. I guess thats one way to get freeloaders out of yer life. I've been in law enforcement for a very very long time. I remember quite early on making an agreement with my assigned partner (who was senior to me and black and became one of my best friends) not to stop anyone we somehow determined were black. People fail to realize 90% of the vehicles we stoped were driven by someone we couldn't possibly identify until actually walking up on the car. It's a bit difficult to determine ones ethnicity in the middle of night from 200 or more feet away while they're speeding 60 in a 30, but try explaining that to certain people. If indeed we did end up stopping someone fitting the "No Go" parameters we always issued a warning and sent them on their way as quickly as possible. It just wasn't worth the trouble we often would get from social justice warriors pulling in behind us to make sure we weren't violating anyone's rights or getting an ear full from their white passengers or people walking by. Sad but true!
The reason the movement exist regardless of the data is because it's a fact when cops do wrong they are rarely if ever held to account. You also have to understand the history of racist cops. People during the civil rights era are still alive and pass down their distrust of cops based on their own experience to their kids and so on. Should you have been fired for your analysis. No, but I guess they were worried about giving material to actual racist like Laura Ingram which I wish you hadn't gone on to her show. People will only see that you went on her show and nothing else. She has a history of racism that can't be refuted.
I wanted to acknowledge your honesty in what you went through at Reuters after reading Christopher Rufo's City Journal article. I'm a theater artist and independent filmmaker in the Off Off Broadway arena and just FYI the same kind of things are going on there. e.g. This last September seven black playwrights were having productions open on Broadway and promoted as infusing the American theater with new, much needed points of view which had previously been ignored. While their identity was the thing being extolled, nothing was said about the merit of the playwriting. No surprise when audiences voted with their feet by not attending, making it harder for the rest of us aspiring to create significant theater to get produced – theater that was not identity driven but rather, investigated the universal human condition. In fact, one black playwright that I had worked with also rejected this kind of theater – and had already suffered for it, years before: Philip Hayes Dean – picketed on Broadway for his play 'Robeson'.
But more to the point of your experience: the NYT has now entered a new phase of censorship. As a frequent commenter, on Jan 3, I had a comment published and which received 15 recommendations for it by other readers - then it was removed without explanation and by unknown people. To remove a comment that received that many recommendations means it struck a chord with readers but apparently didn't pass muster with the Torquemadas of the NYT leftist enforcers. I'm including it here for your perusal. Feel free to let me know your thoughts. :
On Jan 3 I wrote in a comment to Celebrating the ‘Great Night of Shiva’ in Kathmandu By Shelby Tauber.
“Stephan Morrow
Manhattan 4h ago
It's one of my greatest regrets that when I made my way through India as dare I say, a young Soldier of Peace and was on my way to Nepal (the holy mecca for us travelers), another traveler and I made what I thought was a brief side trip up into the Himachal Pradesh - to Mandi (the British summer govt outpost - it was 130 degrees in Delhi but chilled enough to wear a sweater up at 10K ft in Manali). Anyway, the roar of swollen streams from the snow melt of the Himalayas which crowned the vistas up there discouraged idle chatter & the pure white peaks were like an oil painting that felt close enough to touch. Staying on the veranda of a Sikh temple the second night I started sweating. Then weak. Then weaker. By the next AM I couldn't even stagger out back to the mountainside which had little white buds (toilet paper) scattered around - it was the latrine & they put a bucket next to the wood cot I was on bec I had water coming out of every orifice. When they send for a dr in India you know you're in bad shape. As I lay there I could see across the valley and heard moaning. It was me. But a young Aussie who had been a stringer in Vietnam had Enterovioform: a Swiss intestinal flush & w/ his miracle drug I eventually came back down from the 2nd step of the Bardo Thodol. But alas, no trip to Katmandhu - you needed enough funds to eat European meals for 1 mo to recover from Hep B. So Shiva would dance w/o me.
After being up for a day and as I said, receiving 15 recommendations from readers (more than most) it was suddenly replaced by “The comment you are seeking is no longer available” This is the second time one of my comments has been put up and then removed. Is this kind of hard core censorship the new, NYT? Gives Stalinism new meaning. But if it is the current situation, your standing up for the truth at Reuters is now more significant than ever (and probably deserves a play about that very subject). BTW. As someone who was brought up in the Vietnam anti-war movement (from Stuyvesant H.S. on and would eventually leave the country for it) I recall that Reuters was very left wing even back then and supplied most of the bulletins on the war read on WBAI – the lifeline of the anti-war movement – and by which I was obsessed as a young impressionable teenager. Irony of ironies, when I ended up in the S.E.Asian war zone at the end of the war as a 'Soldier of Peace' I was forced to re-assess my anti-war attitudes after meeting some Vietnamese refugees from Hue. The propaganda didn't hold up in the face of real life experience and I'm often chagrined that after the disastrous years of the N. Vietnamese regime many in the peace movement wouldn't feel somewhat humbled by their naivete in supporting a totalitarian regime that brought such misery to that country.
I wish you all good things and again commend you for standing up for the truth because traditional venues like the NYT have been totally compromised by leftist BLM diktats.
Thank you for your brave and principled actions and for sharing your research and thoughts with the world.
I've been writing about the topic that got you fired ever since June of 2020. (https://www.johnlocke.org/research-identifies-benefits-of-spending-more-on-police-not-defunding-it/) Last spring I published a long report on the topic. (https://www.johnlocke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Community-Policing-Policy-Paper.pdf) And I've written a great deal more on the topic since then. (e.g., https://www.johnlocke.org/despite-the-timing-intensive-community-policing-should-have-wide-appeal/) Until today, when I read about what Reuters did to you, I'd been regetting the fact that no one had paid any attention to what I'd written, let alone acted on it. In view of what happened to you, however, I suppose I may have dodged a bullet. I'd very much like to discuss the topic further and possibly invite you to speak at a future event. If you're willing to talk to me, you can find my contact information at https://www.johnlocke.org/about/team/jon-guze/. Thank you.
please agree to meet on larry Elder and other shows to get out your message
Thanks for the courage you've shown to take on the crazed left. My wife turned me on to the interview you did with Elder recently. Wish I could have my step-son watch it but he'd more than likely run away screaming and we'd never hear from him again. I guess thats one way to get freeloaders out of yer life. I've been in law enforcement for a very very long time. I remember quite early on making an agreement with my assigned partner (who was senior to me and black and became one of my best friends) not to stop anyone we somehow determined were black. People fail to realize 90% of the vehicles we stoped were driven by someone we couldn't possibly identify until actually walking up on the car. It's a bit difficult to determine ones ethnicity in the middle of night from 200 or more feet away while they're speeding 60 in a 30, but try explaining that to certain people. If indeed we did end up stopping someone fitting the "No Go" parameters we always issued a warning and sent them on their way as quickly as possible. It just wasn't worth the trouble we often would get from social justice warriors pulling in behind us to make sure we weren't violating anyone's rights or getting an ear full from their white passengers or people walking by. Sad but true!
The reason the movement exist regardless of the data is because it's a fact when cops do wrong they are rarely if ever held to account. You also have to understand the history of racist cops. People during the civil rights era are still alive and pass down their distrust of cops based on their own experience to their kids and so on. Should you have been fired for your analysis. No, but I guess they were worried about giving material to actual racist like Laura Ingram which I wish you hadn't gone on to her show. People will only see that you went on her show and nothing else. She has a history of racism that can't be refuted.
Very thorough and provocative. I have some typo corrections from the editor's eye. Shoot me an email...
Stephan Morrow
Artistic Director
The Great American Play Series
Dear Zack,
I wanted to acknowledge your honesty in what you went through at Reuters after reading Christopher Rufo's City Journal article. I'm a theater artist and independent filmmaker in the Off Off Broadway arena and just FYI the same kind of things are going on there. e.g. This last September seven black playwrights were having productions open on Broadway and promoted as infusing the American theater with new, much needed points of view which had previously been ignored. While their identity was the thing being extolled, nothing was said about the merit of the playwriting. No surprise when audiences voted with their feet by not attending, making it harder for the rest of us aspiring to create significant theater to get produced – theater that was not identity driven but rather, investigated the universal human condition. In fact, one black playwright that I had worked with also rejected this kind of theater – and had already suffered for it, years before: Philip Hayes Dean – picketed on Broadway for his play 'Robeson'.
But more to the point of your experience: the NYT has now entered a new phase of censorship. As a frequent commenter, on Jan 3, I had a comment published and which received 15 recommendations for it by other readers - then it was removed without explanation and by unknown people. To remove a comment that received that many recommendations means it struck a chord with readers but apparently didn't pass muster with the Torquemadas of the NYT leftist enforcers. I'm including it here for your perusal. Feel free to let me know your thoughts. :
On Jan 3 I wrote in a comment to Celebrating the ‘Great Night of Shiva’ in Kathmandu By Shelby Tauber.
“Stephan Morrow
Manhattan 4h ago
It's one of my greatest regrets that when I made my way through India as dare I say, a young Soldier of Peace and was on my way to Nepal (the holy mecca for us travelers), another traveler and I made what I thought was a brief side trip up into the Himachal Pradesh - to Mandi (the British summer govt outpost - it was 130 degrees in Delhi but chilled enough to wear a sweater up at 10K ft in Manali). Anyway, the roar of swollen streams from the snow melt of the Himalayas which crowned the vistas up there discouraged idle chatter & the pure white peaks were like an oil painting that felt close enough to touch. Staying on the veranda of a Sikh temple the second night I started sweating. Then weak. Then weaker. By the next AM I couldn't even stagger out back to the mountainside which had little white buds (toilet paper) scattered around - it was the latrine & they put a bucket next to the wood cot I was on bec I had water coming out of every orifice. When they send for a dr in India you know you're in bad shape. As I lay there I could see across the valley and heard moaning. It was me. But a young Aussie who had been a stringer in Vietnam had Enterovioform: a Swiss intestinal flush & w/ his miracle drug I eventually came back down from the 2nd step of the Bardo Thodol. But alas, no trip to Katmandhu - you needed enough funds to eat European meals for 1 mo to recover from Hep B. So Shiva would dance w/o me.
S.M.
Art Dir Great Am Play Series
https://youtu.be/tKk1tqyrDeU
15 Recommended”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After being up for a day and as I said, receiving 15 recommendations from readers (more than most) it was suddenly replaced by “The comment you are seeking is no longer available” This is the second time one of my comments has been put up and then removed. Is this kind of hard core censorship the new, NYT? Gives Stalinism new meaning. But if it is the current situation, your standing up for the truth at Reuters is now more significant than ever (and probably deserves a play about that very subject). BTW. As someone who was brought up in the Vietnam anti-war movement (from Stuyvesant H.S. on and would eventually leave the country for it) I recall that Reuters was very left wing even back then and supplied most of the bulletins on the war read on WBAI – the lifeline of the anti-war movement – and by which I was obsessed as a young impressionable teenager. Irony of ironies, when I ended up in the S.E.Asian war zone at the end of the war as a 'Soldier of Peace' I was forced to re-assess my anti-war attitudes after meeting some Vietnamese refugees from Hue. The propaganda didn't hold up in the face of real life experience and I'm often chagrined that after the disastrous years of the N. Vietnamese regime many in the peace movement wouldn't feel somewhat humbled by their naivete in supporting a totalitarian regime that brought such misery to that country.
I wish you all good things and again commend you for standing up for the truth because traditional venues like the NYT have been totally compromised by leftist BLM diktats.
Best, Stephan Morrow
stephanmorrow@juno.com