When do decent people of all colors put an end to the rampage of “thugs of color” who have seized a moment in our civil history to exploit it to their deliberate racist ends? What justifies a “thug of color” to rob a store and intimidate its owner, and it’s caught on videotape and the race-mongers portray this “thug” as a gentle giant? 

Then this “gentle thug giant” tries to take away a police officer’s weapon and is shot dead, and when the police officer is exonerated from any wrongdoing by a grand jury, this “gentle thug giant’s” stepfather gets on the bed of a pickup truck and shouts to a crowd, “Burn this bitch down!”referring to the business community of Ferguson, Missouri, and the burning and looting start to take place and this “thug” himself isn’t arrested for inciting a riot?

When does a “thug of color” have the right to try and steal out of a Walmart parking lot in Cleveland, Ohio, a pair of $200 athletic shoes and is shot dead by the intended victim in full view of a number of witnesses? When does an 18-year-old “thug of color” who pulls a gun on a police officer at a gas station and is shot dead, and other “thugs of color” start a mini-riot over the incident, and when the mayor of Berkeley, Missouri, reviews the tape and does not see any racial inclination on the part of the white officer who shot this “thug of color” and the mayor himself is a man of color, when does it end?

It ends when all people of every color stand up and say, “Enough is enough” to the Al Sharptons, the Jessie Jacksons, the Barrack Obamas and the Eric Holders of the world, that your color doesn’t matter, but your character certainly does. When you look like a piece of junk, dress like a piece of junk, walk like a piece of junk and talk like a piece of junk, then you will be treated like a piece of junk. 

Respect is earned; it is not a given just because of a certain color of one’s skin — and that applies to everyone!

Garvey is a resident of Kalispell