It feels like I’m constantly giving the same disclaimers but, what the hell, here we go again. Brothers Before Others is a national law enforcement 501C(3) charity comprised of active/retired sworn law enforcement personnel. Every minute, dollar and ounce of energy dedicated to the work being done, including the articles and posts written on our public social media platforms, are the product of donations. From our President/Founder down, there is not one paid employee of BBO; and to be honest, we prefer it that way.
As such, when you are reading the posts being made on this site, please bear in mind that we are not always refined and sometimes emotion gets the better of us. This may be one of those occasions.
As I stated, BBO maintains several forms of public social media pages, all maintained by our members in one form or another. Most of us believe, as does Michael J Burke, that these forums are important for several reasons. As a charity in a constant state of fundraising, it is important that any outside entity or individual physically see where their donation dollars are going. Our public sites provide the families of our members, our supporters and, most importantly, the families of our fallen a place to come and be in the company of like minded individuals; it allows them to see the positive side of our profession – ya know, the one you rarely see broadcasted by the MSM.
Our public Facebook page, appropriately titled ‘Brothers Before Others – Public’ (Catchy, right?I thought so), like many other public law enforcement orientated sites, draws it’s share of ‘trolls’; essentially keyboard warriors, usually hiding behind the fake names of multiple dummy accounts and the safety of their parents basement, who simply post things on a page with the sole intent of annoying or getting a rise. I admit, sometimes they are successful. However, after a while, how many ‘ACAB’, ‘Bootlicker’ and ‘F*** 12’ memes do you have to see before you essentially have seen them all? Allow me to answer that: not many.
So, more often than not, they come and go with very little disruption to the surface of the water, metaphorically. Yet, every now and again, you come across that special breed of stupid: the generation of dopes who aren’t even smart enough to hide behind cover; the idiots who are brazen enough to make off the wall claims and wildly inappropriate comments which eventually do nothing more than test the patience of their own friends, family, employers and coworkers.
Last night, we had the pleasure of coming across one such individual. Unsolicited and unprovoked, a ‘woke’ mutt from Florida, an advertised member of the Florida National Guard, took it upon himself to comment on a post that BBO had made back in May. Now, before we get to what he said, I want you to consider what making that comment entailed. In order to post where he posted, this mouth-breather had to scroll all the way back, essentially browsing our site looking for just the right post; and *BOOM*, there it was.
In May, one of our members visited the New Jersey State Police memorial in honor of the assassinated Trooper Werner Foerster located on the shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike Southbound Car/Truck lanes just past Exit 9, marking the location where Trooper Foerster was murdered by Joanne Chesimard. In 1977, Joanne, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was found guilty of a slew of charges, including First Degree Murder for her part in Trooper Foerster’s killing. She was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. On November 2, 1979, Joanne escaped from prison and fled to Cuba where she is still believed to living.
The why’s and the how’s as they relate to why, after all this time, this murderous animal simply hasn’t been tracked down and returned to justice is a topic for another day (and likely could fill an entire day with debate). For the purposes of this discussion, it’s enough to know that Joanne is a harbored fugitive, listed by the FBI as a ‘Most Wanted TERRORIST’.
Back to the mutt from Florida.
On the post made by our member on the anniversary of Trooper Foerster’s murder, which included photos of the memorial, ‘Tracy Taurus Haynes’ stated that he wishes he could ‘take a shit’ on the memorial and that Joanne is his hero. He also posted on his own page a simple heart emoji on an article where the Cuban government was defiantly refusing to allow Joanne to be extradited back to the United States. Remember: Tracey is US National Guardsman. Joanne is a listed TERRORIST.
After wisely, albeit late, locking his page down and adding some type of Legal Zoom disclaimer to his profile, Tracey unlocked it a bit for the purposes of doubling down, adding that he feels that Joanne was set up by the NJ State Police, with the help of the federal government and FBI. Remember: Tracey is a US Guardsman. Joanne is a listed TERRORIST.
I’m fairly confident that I don’t have to explain to you the clear and present danger associated with a member of our military endorsing, if not praising, a foreign government’s deliberate harboring of a known terrorist wanted for the killing of ANY US citizen, let alone a fellow guardian of our freedom.
Michael Burke has made several attempts to contact and mediate with the National Guard and the Florida National Guard. While those talks are still on-going, the ‘assurances’ are weak and par for the course and, quite honestly, our concerns are being treated with the same urgency as ‘Karen’ barking at the customer service counter of Target.
The freedom of speech is one of the most precious freedoms we, as American citizens, are afforded. However, something gets lost in the interpretation of that freedom, especially on this younger generation. As part of a free society, your words and actions are protected from persecution. However, our words and actions still carry weight and, as such, may still have consequences. Consequences do NOT equate to persecution.
Having the right, by proxy, does not make it right.
The fact that a US Soldier took it upon himself to seek out an opportunity to disparage a slain New Jersey State Trooper who, ironically was also a Vietnam Veteran, having served in the US Army, is grotesque on so many levels. If you choose to try and broadcast your ‘wokeness’ by disrespecting the sacrifice made by a fallen member of our profession and the loved ones that he/she left behind, allow this to serve as notice that the members of Brothers Before Others will meet you on that battlefield every single time.
We are calling on the Florida National Guard to publicly acknowledge the error by their Guardsman and declare what we already know: that the misguided and reckless declarations made by their member do NOT reflect the sentiments of the Florida National Guard and that their member is being dealt with accordingly.
Anything less than a public acknowledgment and apology is a slight and disregard to the sacrifice made by Trooper Foerster, the Foerster family, the members of the New Jersey State Police and the members of the entire law enforcement community.
We ALL deserve better.