Editor,

Mark Brown says “Cops aren’t to blame for community violence.” Well, that may be so in Island County where there are only three African-Americans for every 100 whites living here.

In eastern and southern states where white racist cops are taking down African-Americans at an alarming rate for what appear to be questionable or non-existent reasons, communities are rebelling. In Seattle, ask Ron Sim who is black and a past King County Executive why he has been pulled over by Seattle cops eight times. One stop was for cause — a non-working headlight.

The shoot-first, ask-later practices of cops in other areas of the country are causing many to distrust domestic policing in our nation. Mr. Brown disagrees. He suggests, we should “not target good police officers but instead focus on the real problem – the violence coming out of our communities.”  Hmm, seems like a catch-22 to me.

BRUCE HOWARD

Freeland