"Inclusion and Diversity?" Again?

(Mac Kennedy asked me to post something about this matter on this blog.  I told him he was more than welcome to do it himself, but he wanted me to do it.  So here it is.  You're welcome, Mac.)



Mac Kennedy is up in arms.  He's let the whole world know about it.  He seems to have gotten someone kicked off Nextdoor, and now, he's railing at the Commission, and the rest of us.  Outgoing Commissioners, incoming Commissioners, everyone.  Mac wants something done!  He wants someone read the riot act.

And here's what this is all about.  Ron Coyle, one of our neighbors and even a former BP Commissioner, was simply and perfectly legally speaking his mind on Nextdoor, and he happened, innocently enough, I'm sure, to observe "Let's be objective, we are surrounded by negros [sic], pretend you are in South Africa, and not America USA [sic].  It's hard to believe but that is where we find ourselves here in the Park...I've lived here all of my life, 58 years, and we have never seen the amount of crime we are now seeing.  The darkening of our demographics is profoundly to blame...the public schools in the area...are all overrun with darkies...we spend exorbitant amounts more to send our kids to schools with students and teachers of the proper caliber and color."  And then, he cites Darwin, although the citation seems relatively like a non sequitur.

So, Mac, what's the problem?  Ron has an opinion, and he's clearly thought carefully about the matter.  Doesn't he have every right to his opinion, and to share it with the rest of us?

And some of our neighbors turned out to be really intolerant of Ron Coyle and his ideas.  Words like "racism," "ugliness," "bigotry," "hatred," "twisted," "offensive," and "deplorable" were used.  Some wanted him "muted" from Nextdoor, or worse.  Just because Ron Coyle, lifelong BP resident and even former Commissioner, happens to take a very dim view of "negros [sic]" or "darkles," or whatever he likes to call them.

Some wondered whether Ron also took a dim view of homosexual people, or hispanics, or Jews, or any of a number of other groups.  But Ron never said that.  All he intensely and viscerally hates is "negros [sic]."  You know, "darkies."  Really, what's the big deal, if Ron Coyle happens to hate black people?

And some people seemed to think it is a big deal.  Like as if they thought Ron Coyle's hatred and intolerance were not only offensive, but to worry about.  Mac Kennedy, for example, allowed himself to consider that someone with such thoughts could "act out...physically," and that this seemed to him like the kind of sentiment that leads to behaviors about which people would in retrospect say "why didn't someone do something before?"  Another BP resident, commenting on Nextdoor, wrote "For a long time, many of us, including me, have had our heads in the sand, or have looked the other way, and have said this is the stuff that goes on in other places or in the movies.  Well, no, it's alive and well and living amongst us...Knowing that this exists in our midst, and more importantly, seeing it and hearing it, has given me a new perspective."

But come on, Mac, people don't spout this kind of antisocial nonsense, and then act out, having gotten it off their chests.  Well, maybe they do.  Yeah, OK, people like racist Ron Coyle might be to worry about.

But what's he going to do, "go postal?"  I mean, he doesn't have a gun or anything, does he?  (Mac, I'm asking, does he?)

Three years ago, at the Meet the Candidates event, we were asked about our concerns regarding "diversity" in BP.  I particularly remember David Coviello's response.  (Frankly, I don't think any of us thought there was much of a problem about tolerance of diversity.)  David said that while he was campaigning, one of our neighbors said something about David's age, apparently judging it to be greater than it was, on account of David's (very, very slightly) receding hairline.  So David suggested sensitivity regarding our elderly population.  (Jeez, David, did you take a look at Drew Dillworth, who gave up and shaved his head, or Noah Jacobs, or me?  And you were whining about your mane?  Talk about lack of sensitivity!)  I mean, three years ago, that's what we thought we had to worry about regarding tolerance of other people.  And now, we have people who think "Make America Great Again" really means "Make America White Again," and some well-spoken white supremacist named Spencer, and Ron Coyle.  Man, have we lost a lot of ground in only three years.