Tucson Police Officer Brandon Tatum has a
First Amendment right to free speech. But you wouldn’t know that from the way a
reporter has targeted him. On
September 24, Tatum made a video monologue
expressing his dissatisfaction with the NFL players kneeling during the
National Anthem. He did not identify himself as a police officer; he made it
purely in his private capacity. The seven minute speech went viral, receiving
over 70 million views on Facebook. His message resonated with Americans all
across the country who are fed up with the disrespectful athletes.
Arizona Daily Star reporter Tim Steller published an article on Friday
questioning whether the video violated TPD’s departmental rules. Titled “Tucson
Police Officer Pushes Boundaries With Viral Rants,” he cites TPD’s policy which
prohibits officers from posting anything discriminatory on social media.
Tatum’s video doesn’t discriminate against anyone, it merely
discusses why kneeling during the anthem is disrespectful and an inappropriate
way to protest. He says the National Anthem has nothing to do with what the
athletes are protesting. He points out how the flag and the anthem have given
people freedom and opportunities, but the protesters won’t talk about that. He
observes that Martin Luther King, Jr., had bipartisan support for his protests,
because he conducted them with integrity.
In contrast, Tatum says, “These clowns are doing things out of
trendiness.” If they really care about black lives, then they need to be out
there in the black community. He asks, “What has happened since Colin
Kaepernick took a knee?” Nothing has changed, nothing is going to change. “Stop
whining like a baby. … As an African-American in this country, I love the
flag.”
Tatum contrasts the athletes losing and coming back again to play
another game with those who died for the flag in military service. The latter
don’t get a second chance once they lose their lives on the battlefield.
That is who these athletes are disrespecting. He warns the players about
alienating their fan base of patriotic Americans, “When you spit in their face,
they will no longer support you.”
Tatum recently began created monologues commenting on race issues
that go viral. He has 33,552 subscribers to his YouTube channel. Conservative
talk show host James T. Harris, who is also black and based out
of Tucson, says the real
story should be how a small town boy who moved to Tucson created multiple
videos that went viral.
Since Tatum started issuing his videos, he and Harris have become
well-known as the two conservative black guys out of Tucson. Harris’s own video
criticizing the kneeling players also went viral receiving 22 million views.
Harris laments that in left-leaning Pima County, the story isn’t about how
successful the videos have been. Instead, he quotes SCOTUS Justice Clarence
Thomas on the treatment, “It is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in
any way deign to think for themselves.”
Harris observed, “If Brandon had made a video praising the
kneeling which went viral, Steller wouldn’t have written anything critical.”
The kneeling NFL players, as private players, have no right to free speech and
violated an NFL rule. In contrast, Tatum properly exercised his right to free
speech; he did not issue his monologue on police property or identify himself
with his employer. Where is Steller’s criticism of the NFL players for
violating the NFL rule?
Steller castigated Tatum for participating in an interview with
Alex Jones of Infowars. Steller may not like Infowars, but Tatum has a right to
free speech and to choose who he gives interviews to. It is merely Stellers’
opinion what is considered an acceptable news outlet. Brandon responded and
said crossing the line for him would be doing an interview with someone like
Steller or CNN. Frankly, it sounds like Steller is upset he cannot control
Tatum or obtain an interview with him. It is squelching free speech to tell
Tatum who he can and cannot give interviews to.
Harris has been subject to “blacklash” harassment by the left for
years, including by The Arizona Daily Star. Someone at the paper called
him a Nazi. In a Facebook post, editorial cartoonist David Fitzsimmons said he
was going to get Harris’s advertisers to boycott his radio show. Stellars
responded eagerly, “tell me more.” Fortunately, Harris’s fans bombarded the Star,
forcing Fitzsimmons to back down. Harris has received death threats since he
became vocal as a black conservative, receiving threats to his family, and had
clients turned against him. He ended up losing a business as a result.
The only thing the left dislikes more than conservatives are black
conservatives. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail and the ungrounded, vicious
attack by Steller is thwarted. Just because you’re black and conservative
doesn’t mean you lose your right to free speech. As a reporter, Steller should
know better when it comes to free speech.
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