Response to Mr. Jawando: Are Antifa & BLM MoCo’s New Traffic Cops?

From A Very Concerned Citizen In Montgomery County, Maryland.

When does the emphasis on community activism end and real governing begin?

Apparently not any time soon in Montgomery County, Maryland. As long as the seats on our county council are primarily filled with community organizers and political activists, we will continue to see Montgomery County become more like Takoma Park and Berkeley, California.  Unfortunately, five of the nine council members are from either liberal Takoma Park or Silver Spring.

As liberal Democrat mayors and council members from across the nation are crying for police reform and defunding police, the liberal Montgomery County Council has also joined the narrative. Recently, the Council has declared racism a “public health emergency.” In a spin off move, liberal Council member Will Jawando, another At-Large member from Silver Spring, was tasked with leading “re-imagining policing in Montgomery County.” Jawando, whose resume describes him as an attorney, political activist, and community leader, boasts to have worked with Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama on “civil rights” issues.

Sadly, Jawando, along with most of the other Council persons in Montgomery County, have no business or work experience. Consequently, their total focus while on the council is on community activism. 

When Will Jawando joined the council as one of the At-Large Council members in 2018 he immediately began inserting his agenda into legislation. He had now found a new platform for his lifelong passion.  Jawando immediately introduced legislation for hair discrimination in the workplace; his ultimate passion was to reform the police department of Montgomery County. In an article published by dcist on August 26, Jawando tells a story of how he was arrested in the mid 2000’s while riding in a car with several law school friends. They were admittedly shouting obscenities at an undercover female police officer. Apparently, his parents did not teach him manners or respect for fellow human beings. Instead of recognizing his fault for his misconduct, he chose to process the incident as police harassment and developed a victim mentality. Sadly, this happens all too often. It’s sad when people do not accept responsibility for their actions. His concern was how this arrest would affect his future career. Today, he counts himself as a victim because of his race. He sees himself as a statistic rather than a foul-mouthed young man who got caught for his poor behavior.

Today, because of his victim mentality, Jawando is on a mission to reshape policing in Montgomery County. Along with Hans Reimer, a Marxist from California, they are proposing that police no longer make traffic stops and issue traffic citations. They would like to use the Berkeley model, utilizing the department of transportation as traffic enforcers. They are also suggesting more traffic cameras.

By Will’s own admission and his distrust of police he is suggesting we throw out the baby with the bath water. Again, it’s legislating to the lowest common denominator.

In a lengthy conversation with a Montgomery County police officer over the Labor Day weekend, he and I discussed policing in Montgomery County. He shared with me that morale on the force is at its lowest point. I asked him if he had been given stand down orders.

He acknowledged most officers are reluctant to make arrests because of fear of reprisal and lack of support from the County Executive, Marc Elrich.

He also shared that many activists purposely provoke police hoping for a negative response while they stand by with their cell phones filming the event. I asked him to tell me how the police would respond if I was a victim of black lives matter (BLM) harassment or if my business was threatened or looted or burned. He sadly responded they would most likely stand down.  He shared that the risk of losing his job or being sued or jailed for doing his job caused him to think differently on how he performed his work.

So, I ask you, Mr. Jawando:

1. How do you propose protecting the law-abiding citizens of Montgomery County who are at risk of the anarchists, rioters, and criminals?

2. Do you propose protecting the rioters over the law abiding taxpayers of Montgomery County?

3. Why do you allow your poor, disrespectful behavior as a student shape your policy-making for this county?

I suggest we need businessmen and persons with common sense to lead our county-not community organizers, civil rights activists, and attorneys who have a chip on their shoulder.

We are not Takoma Park.

References:

1. https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=26728
2. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/racism-a-public-health-emergency-montgomery-county-to-discuss/65-84a8dc4e-6a57-46cd-9587-76c24aad8162
3. https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=26775&Dept=1
4. https://lefthandview.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/11-16-13-its-2014-in-maryland-politics-d20-candidates-forum/
5. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/crown-act-passes-in-montgomery-county/65-471853d9-53c0-4c53-bce0-b9a7ebff186c
6. https://dcist.com/story/20/08/26/montgomery-county-will-jawando-defund-the-police-reform/
7. We had to dig up via web archives Jawando’s original article on the incident involving his arrest, because it had been scrubbed from the original website (I wonder why): https://web.archive.org/web/20160524085845/http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/08/what_makes_black_men_run_from_the_police.html
8. https://en.paperblog.com/051714-md-d20-is-will-jawando-stupid-we-already-knew-he-was-unqualified-894733/