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Aberdeen Paper Calls out Narrow, Unneighborly Racism of Gettysburg Police Uniform

My local paper reminds its readers down in Potter County that their majoritarian excuses for keeping the traitor flag of the Confederacy on the Gettysburg Police Department Facebook page and uniforms ignore the fundamental racist power and intimidation of that symbol:

Gettysburg residents offered their opinions in that Capitol Journal story:

“I don’t associate looking at the patch with racism.”

“I wouldn’t have even been aware of the emblem, to tell you what was on there.”

“I didn’t even know they had it on their uniforms until this controversy broke. When I see the Confederate flag, I don’t think of anything.”

“Those don’t bother me. They’re things that really don’t matter.”

These are the privileged and convenient thoughts of those in the majority. While the patch or the statues don’t bother these folks, they are not looking outward to what it means to their neighbors. They are not recognizing the power of those totems to give racists motivation, a cause and tacit approval [editorial, “In America’s Racial Divide, Which Side Are You On?Aberdeen American News, 2017.08.19].

It’s easy to make excuses for racism when you’re not on the losing end of discrimination.

Meanwhile, the only local news the Gettysburg PD has posted this month is a photo of Sheriff Hamburger training kids to use guns safely and an announcement that Potter County has lifted its burn ban. On Gettysburg police uniforms, racism burns unabated.

54 Comments

  1. Ben Cerwinske 2017-08-20 11:51

    So…if they don’t really care one way or the other…they’re going to get rid of it?

  2. Shane Brinkman 2017-08-20 12:37

    Pointless articles like this is why I dont buy the Aberdeen paper anymore

  3. OldSarg 2017-08-20 12:57

    Pretty pathetic. . . Everyone, which you decide, on your terms, is a racist.

    I’m on my way back to South Dakota. I just spent 3 days out on the east coast for a memorial service and I had a lot of time to think about why you and the majority of your followers on this site are so nasty to anyone that does not share the same nasty thoughts as you and I have concluded that it isn’t the subject, topic or incident. It is you and your ilk. You are not a liked person period. Think about it; most people just plain do not like you. Even before the internet you just weren’t a very likable person. You are a nasty, small minded person. Kind of like that little dog that hides under the furniture and bites at the heels of those that walk past. Yip, yip, yip. . . a nasty little grump.

  4. Porter Lansing 2017-08-20 13:17

    This OldSarge guy/woman/trans/queer?? shouldn’t be on a public airplane with the lack of stability he’s displaying. I wouldn’t sell him/her a ticket or let her/him through TSA. It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.

  5. jerry 2017-08-20 14:03

    Very good point Mr. Cerwinske, they cannot get rid of their racist blanky that they wrap themselves around. They say it does not matter, but that traitor flag is who they identify with.

  6. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr. 2017-08-20 14:26

    They need to go and Republican candidates Noem, Jackley, Krebs, and Johnson need to call for their removal (Tim and Billie too). Because, what would Abe do? (WWAD?)

  7. mike from iowa 2017-08-20 14:33

    OldSarg the whining victim. What a sissy you turned out to be. You want abuse go to a white racist site and get you some.

    Cory runs a pretty much family blog and some langwidge is a bit rough. Just not that rough.

  8. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-20 15:55

    OldSarge must have broken his mirror the last time he looked in it.
    He comes to Dakota Free Press and makes mean and nasty comments about Cory and anyone else he chooses and then cries like a baby when they respond in-kind.
    OldSarg seems to think that he can attack Cory and the rest of us with impunity just because he thinks he was in the military.
    Cory operates the most intellectually challenging blog in South Dakota that is read by many Democrats and republicans, most don’t comment for fear of being attacked by deranged republicans like OldSarg.
    Look at the competitive blogs like the Constant Commoner, David Newquist and Bob Mercer that all provide useful information and hard news.
    Compare them to the likes of Dakota War College, the Right Side Blog and even sibbyonline, that is on life support, and you don’t find much if any discussion. They treat their propaganda as fact and the republican ducklings follow along.
    It is not our fault that OldSarg is intellectually challenged and locked into a political period long past.
    On another DFP post today, happy camper was lodging basically the same complaints OldSarg is doing here and it makes me wonder why they come here to comment when Cory and his readers make them so upset, they should know by now that if come here and attack and present their lies and fake news they will be held to account for them
    Seriously, OldSarge maybe you’d feel more welcome at other blog sites where there are plenty just like you.

  9. jerry 2017-08-20 16:20

    The so called “angry whites” that are listened to with their racist themes are just that. The white supremacists have gotten by with this kind of bull crap for decades. They have bombed a building in Oklahoma with indiscriminate loss of American life in their brand of Nazi/confederate terrorism. We people of white blood that goes through our veins, well we hope that they will stop. Here is a clue to us with white blood flowing through our veins, white people are not gonna quit being terrorists until we stop them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmZNirYH5eU

    I was angered and then amused with the taking over of a small North Dakota town named Leith by a “white blood supremacist” by the name of Craig Cobb. Old Cobb had all the Nazi/confederate hate regalia, flags and all of that anti American crap that he clung to with the might of a child to his teddy bear at night. Turns out old Cobb not only had the white blood going through his veins he also had Black blood from the heart of Africa running through those old veins as well. We he found that out, he quit.

    These “whites” over in Gettysburg that have the hate on enough to support the most anti-American flag that ever flew, are just racists towards themselves. They should not be allowed to vote in any kind of election but the one within their confederate city of hate. The only thing they lack now for their city charter is the swastika and the requirement that all of the citizens wear brown shirts with gray pants..

  10. OldSarg 2017-08-20 18:23

    Listen to yourselves! You are all deranged fools. Read your words aloud and hear what you sound like. You are all twits wishing for standing. You have done nothing to contribute but are simply takers. leeches on a society to feeds you as if you are dawdling inbreds forever left behind begging for others to provide for you. You have become old and tired. No friends and only your hollow meaningless drivel you call words.

    Tomorrow I will be home. I’m thinking a three lil’pigs at the Independent Ale House. Come on in and we’ll talk over a beer.

  11. leslie 2017-08-20 18:48

    same excuses South Dakotans used along with their governor to attempt to stop the legal name change to Black Elk Peak. Same as charlottesville. ugliness

    http://www.sdbgn.sd.gov/reports.aspx

  12. jerry 2017-08-20 18:51

    My Dad always said that when the misguided have nothing of importance to say, they call smart people names so smart people can be amused.

  13. leslie 2017-08-20 18:53

    hickey’s blog too blames Obama for racism. The Green Stick
    Charlottesville: Should A President Pick Sides

  14. jerry 2017-08-20 18:59

    BTW, I was speaking of the smart people on this board, certainly not myself. That means that I am misguided by not being a racist, lucky me. Allow me to help you in the thinking about 3 little pigs, an assist if you will, trump, Bannon, Pence and Sessions, you are welcome. The fourth one is for good measure.

  15. jerry 2017-08-20 19:06

    Mr. Hickey blames Obama for the eclipse as well, because he will not be able to see it.. Damn you Obama! for making the world round. With that in mind, he traipses in his regulation kilt, through the tall grass of Scotland. Always leery of tall cactus that Obama may have planted there.

  16. leslie 2017-08-20 19:28

    A dangerous aspect of heavily armed militia appearing at protests is just beging to get attention, as happened previously in Cliven Bundy’s NV Bunkerhill standoff and the Harney County OR Mahauer Wildlife takeover.

    Some critics think that the intrusive militias in Charlottesville could have contributed to the initial hesitation by the police to break up the violence. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/opinion/charlottesville-militias-free-speech-guns.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

    In SD these may be the same ideas behind leaving your concealed handgun on the Starbucks counter or taking back federal land in Spearfish Canyon by a conservative governor who misunderstands the Mahauer Wildlife takeover.

    The critical question is how to protect peoples’ free speech in the presence of armed opponents….the Virginia Constitution says militias must be “under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.”

  17. mike from iowa 2017-08-20 19:39

    They are already wearing tacky khaki pants, Old Sarg. I’m sorry, did I just hurt yer little feelers?

  18. leslie 2017-08-20 20:05

    After Charlottesville, Republican silence is complicity and GOP inaction is acquiescence.

    dailykos

  19. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-20 20:10

    There are rednecks all over the internet blaming President Obama for racism and for the eclipse.
    After the beat down of Trump’s Nazi’s and Confederates yesterday in Boston and being slammed all week over Charlottesville this bunch is going to be really pissed off tomorrow when the moon turns BLACK

  20. jerry 2017-08-20 21:06

    Holy buckets Roger, you have been on a roll. Good one. leslie, do you know why militia wear brown pants?…so when they are challenged you cannot tell if they unloaded in them. Hey, it is not as good as the zingers Roger has been putting out there, but I am working on it.

  21. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-20 21:54

    Jerry,
    You generally do well with humor and I always appreciate it.
    This afternoon I entertained myself by arguing with Stace Nelson on Owen Retizels Facebook page. I had him going so much he was flipping and sputtering and repeating himself. He was posting his usual Democrats are bad Nazi’s and Confederates and republicans are saints for fighting them. Stace should never pick a fight with me.

  22. jerry 2017-08-20 22:37

    Thank you sir, that must have been epic amusement for you and like thinkers dealing with Nelson. Of course that is not original thinking on his part, that is the new meme from Fox News and Billo’s slow boy reader replacement. Keep at it. I am gonna use that eclipse thing to the limit and each time, I will be thanking you.

  23. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-20 22:50

    Thanks jerry, Nelson is amusing and maddening at the same time. I just checked in over there and he is still at it. There are a few others emasculating him, but he’s so damn dense he doesn’t know it.
    Stace isn’t capable of having an original thought, he just repeats the same old rhetoric, kind of pitiful when you think about it.
    Anyway, sorry for going on, this should be about the racist Gettysburg police department.

  24. jerry 2017-08-20 23:17

    I think that Nelson should be made chief of hate over there in that racist burg. They are the county seat of Potter County so they get plenty of that free government money to keep that hatred alive too. As I was looking at their logo, I think right between the American flag and the traitor flag could be placed a swastika. It would fit in there perfectly and then they would have their bases covered. They could continue to fleece the taxpayers with the American flag while getting full throated support from the knuckle draggers listed above and then to do the trifecta, give the old seig heil to the Nazi swastika. October is coming up so they could have the beer tents singing old Nazi standards together and at the end, a whistling of Dixie covering all the bases. Maybe talk to Daugaard to get that festivity put up as a tourism spot for dyed in the wool Nazi party folks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP9Wp6QVbsk Fun times indeed.

  25. Richard Schriever 2017-08-21 05:46

    Do these folks realize that in the actual battle of Gettysburg – the town’s namesake – the forces fighting under the traitor flag LOST? That flag represents not only a loser philosophy, but a losing side in a contest. If they think it’s associated with the local “Battler” sports teams – they’ve chosen to associate that name with LOSING.

  26. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-08-21 07:13

    OldSarg screams the Limbaugh-trained memes of “takers”, while such vague complaints about socialism have nothing to do with the Aberdeen editorial’s point (and they have one, Shane, and a pretty important one; you just don’t like it). Racism is bad. Public officials should not project racist symbols in any official setting. The Gettysburg police, in displaying a racist symbol on their uniforms, show an inability to think about the intimidating message they are sending to many people with whom they may deal. They might as well stitch “F— You, N—–” on their uniforms. That has nothing to do with socialism; that has to do with basic human decency and respect for equal civil rights.

    To RIchard’s point, yes, celebrating the traitor flag trivializes history, treating the bloody Civil War as a mere sporting event: “Gee, South, good game! Thanks for playing!” That is the real subversion of history.

  27. barry freed 2017-08-21 09:07

    Leslie’s citation, lacking any real points and hoping to blame the local and State Democrat Government’s long planned vision for violence, over compensates for the Editorial Board’s small thoughts with charged words for the gun carriers such as “swaggering” and “strutting” while glorifying the violent intentions and actions of Antifa in coming to Charlottesville. Then they make the leap that even though there were THOUSANDS OF GUNS in the crowd, there were no shots, thus making future confrontations even more dangerous. What???? Something didn’t happen, so it is more likely in the future, Socrates would be lost with that logic. Maybe the Kos is on the Antifa violence planning board?
    OUR VIOLENCE GOOD, OTHER VIOLENCE ALWAYS BAD.

    The armed group at Charlottesville was the most rational group there.

    Questionable “news ” sites such as Daily Kos perpetuate this shallow, one sided thinking that violence by anti fascists (or anyone who isn’t white) is acceptable. (OH!!! he said “WHITE”, he must be one of them) Jerry brags here of his own felonious assaults, and has no regret, only pride. I once pounded a wife beater who sounded a lot like Jerry, I still have a little regret for hurting another, but I looked around and nobody else was going to do anything to protect her.
    Roger’s Fascists (not be confused with Roger’s Rangers, who were true American Patriots) couldn’t get their 4,000 to 1 fight, so they attacked the Cops instead. Yes… the people who traveled to Boston with the specific intention of violence were the so called “anti” fascists. Good thing they tell us they aren’t fascists themselves or we couldn’t tell.
    OUR VIOLENCE GOOD, OTHER VIOLENCE ALWAYS BAD

    Has it occurred to any of you that the patch was there before the Civil Rights Act and the Sixties? I doubt Gettysburg is run by Nazis, but then again, when zealots scream at you and threaten violence, it is human nature to dig in your heals. When people have time to reflect on a valid point, they eventually come around, but if you yell louder, call names, push, spit, and maybe get violent like Antifa, they might capitulate instantly. Maybe you can get Jerry to assault their cars, because:
    OUR VIOLENCE GOOD.

  28. OldSarg 2017-08-21 10:27

    The city of Gettysburg was named in commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg by many of the settlers who were veterans of the Civil War. To support the erasing of this history is a slap in the faces of the people of the community and state who love our Nation and it’s history. The police proudly wear the patch depicting the battle to remind all of us today of that horrible time when brother battled brother and out Nation was tour apart.

    Much like Mao and Lenin, those on the radical anti-American left wish to erase the history of the people in an effort to remove the people’s pride in their country opening the door for the leftist to force their vision of government on a free and proud people. Enslavement of the people is now and forever has been the goal of the progressive left.

    Once again they will win many small battles and hurt the very people the claim they wish to “educate” but they will lose this war as the have lost all of their wars and the people’s pride will return. We pray that this time what the progressive left has done and is doing will not be forgotten and the snakes they are will slither back under the rocks from which they crawled, ashamed and broken.

  29. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-21 11:40

    Barry,
    Did you watch the coverage of the Nazi/Confederate Free Speech rally in Boston?
    The pro-American rally outnumbered the enemy by about 40,000 to two dozen, there were absolutely no incidents of Americans attacking cops like Trump tweeted. Instead what you saw was cops mingling with American sharing hugs and conversation about hate. The Boston police department shared the same information that cops were not attacked.
    What I did see was Americans literally putting the run on anti-American Nazi’s and Confederates.

  30. Porter Lansing 2017-08-21 11:45

    @MFI … I think that was tried at Altamont.

  31. mike from iowa 2017-08-21 12:49

    Stones had Hell’s Angels for sercurity at Altamount if memory serves, Porter. With at least one death reported. Go figure.

  32. jerry 2017-08-21 17:49

    Barry, or should I call you Barack??, show us your long form papers, I have never been arrested for assault of any kind, man or woman, makes no difference. So there, now I have made myself clear and have never ever said that I was. As far as whipping someone, your inner Nelson is showing along with your swastika.

    The racist white anger patch that the folks in Gettysburg wear is a disgrace to that uniform and what it represents. That patch does not represent law enforcement and should be worn with a brown shirt and jackboots. That patch represents hate and anti-Americanism with no regard for law and order. Look up the history of the patch and you will see when that design came to be sure as hell was not in the 60’s, it was designed in 2009. It was designed to poke a stick at your namesake Barack. Now please go and bring yourself to the proper position and render your best arm extended salute, palm down and your little digits extended, snap those heels together and suck that gut in. BTW Barack, I do admit to being involved with beating a vehicle in a brawl that did some damage on vehicles. Please proceed.

  33. jerry 2017-08-21 23:15

    LivingBlue @LivingBlueinRed
    1. Send Confederate monuments to Afghanistan.
    2. Display in Taliban territory.
    3. Send Nazis to defend monuments.
    4. Two birds one stone.
    7:52 PM – Aug 21, 2017

    Best plan for sure

  34. barry freed 2017-08-22 08:46

    Jerry,
    … and Nixon never said he was arrested. Good for both of you, and though you can irritate like a chigger, you won’t bring me down to your level.

    Jerry Quote:
    “The first thing you beat on are the windows (having been in a couple of brawls myself) you simply cannot express the desire to kick one’s ass without taking out a windscreen or the side windows, always fun to wack them. ”

    Cory,
    I have been called a Nazi by a person who glorifies assault.
    What are you going to do about it?
    I would like to hear from you Sponsor what he thinks of someone calling posters Nazis on his site.

  35. barry freed 2017-08-22 09:44

    Roger,
    I think you have said that you support Gay Rights, does that make you homosexual?
    Does supporting Medical Marijuana make cancer victims: “dopers”?
    Objecting to sobriety checkpoints makes one a criminal?
    If one spells behaviour with a “euu” are they Frenchies?

    I see the White Nationalist Movement protest as an opportunity to teach. Wishing or legislating them away is pure fantasy, so then what? If they weren’t allowed to march, if they were found only on the dark web, they would still be out there recruiting word of mouth and we would have no opportunities to discredit their arguments. Not unless we go to their meetings to engage, then we would be labeled as” BLM haters, Nazis lovers, and racists on DFP. The WNM has a few valid points, everybody does, but when Liberty Lovers lie about those points, say they don’t exist, never acknowledging when White Nationalists speak truth, it gives WN’s a measure of credibility when they say: Liberty Lovers lied about X, so they lie about everything.” They, like their counterparts in some factions of Antifa will turn that small measure into something that appears to be important.

    Tell me that you are 100% comfortable and confident that Charlottesville Government, Law Enforcement, and State Police did the best job the could to prevent violence.

    As with children and dogs, which describes yelling, spitting, and hitting, if one is chastised and the other praised for misbehaviour, it guarantees more problems as one child feels entitled, and the other unheard.

    As the groups came near each other, Police should have patrolled with selfie-sticks and advised the groups that everything was going to be filmed, used as evidence to arrest ANYONE and EVERYONE involved should violence break out. They should have arrested the first person to throw a punch and everyone after.

  36. jerry 2017-08-22 10:59

    Barack (Barry) Freed, your analogy of me and Nixon, fits you to a T. Indeed, both Nixon and myself supported the EPA, so we have that. Both Nixon and myself supported the opening of dialogue with China, we also have that. Both Nixon and I were not arrested, which is a good thing. Nixon and I both were a little wacky in those ways of wacking wind screens and such in a political street brawl, but much different in the ways of Nazism and the KKK. Nixon hated Jews, I don’t. Nixon hated Blacks and all people of color, I don’t. See that is where you fit in Barack, you hate the Jews and you hate the Blacks and all people of color. Work on that stuff and you may find yourself a place at the table of humanity rather than a place in the garbage bin of society.

  37. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-08-23 09:29

    Barry, I wholeheartedly oppose any effort by the Gettysburg PD to replace its current racist, intimidating insignia with patches that read, “Barry is a Nazi and we glorify assault.”

  38. barry freed 2017-08-24 08:20

    I will be talking to an attorney

  39. jerry 2017-08-24 08:29

    Good for you Barack (Barry). Jason Ravnsborg has some time.

  40. Porter Lansing 2017-08-24 10:41

    Freed … You are a limited-purpose public figure. i.e. One who (a) voluntarily participates in a discussion about a public controversy.
    To win defamation as a public figure you must show “actual malice”— that you were defamed with either knowledge of falsity or in reckless disregard for the truth. This is a difficult standard for a public figure to meet.
    That’ll be $750, sucker. Pay up, Freed … You are a limited-purpose public figure. i.e. One who (a) voluntarily participates in a discussion about a public controversy.
    To win defamation as a public figure you must show “actual malice”— that you were defamed with either knowledge of falsity or in reckless disregard for the truth. This is a difficult standard for a public figure to meet.
    That’ll be $750. Pay up, sucker.

  41. jerry 2017-08-24 11:12

    BTW, Barack (Barry) threatened yours truly with bodily harm. Do this Barack (Barry) do this. Bless his heart, probably does not have two nickels to rub together so I would be out when I win. Dude, mom says to get a job and move out of the basement…

    Porter do you remember when cult republican, white supremacists like Barack (Barry) here, were against all kinds of court involvements in any matter?….Yeah, me either. They all want to be like their master, trump and threaten people.

  42. Porter Lansing 2017-08-24 11:22

    Cory said he opposes any plan to label Freed a Nazi on a police emblem. So do I. Often humor is lost on the humorless.

  43. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-08-24 20:31

    If anyone has a case for calling a lawyer, it’s most of the comment section at whom OldSarg throws his constant false ad hominem in the absence of his ability to refute the treasonous, racist, bullying intent of Confederate symbols in modern America. The Gettysburg police aren’t history teachers. They are law enforcement officials charged with keeping every member of the public safe. Waving the banner of racist traitors in the face of the descendants of the slaves the Union freed harms the public’s sense of safety.

  44. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-24 22:55

    If everyone on social media felt that they were slandered by what someone said about them, lawyers would be pretty damn busy collecting fees for services rendered on cases that never make it to court much less receive a with a judgment.
    It is likely that most lawyers would even take such a case.

  45. jerry 2017-08-24 23:29

    The facts are stubborn, that patch on the Gettysburg police uniform is racist. They put that patch together in 2009 as a poke at President Obama trying to be cute. Roger, how was Barack (Barry) slandered? The truth is the truth, he defended his Nazi pals who killed that young woman in Virginia by blaming her for her own death. If anything, Barack (Barry) slandered the dead woman with his blind hate. If he is talking to an attorney, that will keep his sorry arse off this site.

  46. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-08-25 06:10

    I look forward to the civil rights lawsuit that minority residents or visitors could file against the Gettysburg Police Department for creating a hostile environment.

  47. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-08-25 06:11

    We can do without deeming each other to have sorry arses and wishing people away from the comment section.

Comments are closed.