How to protest a food drive
It's been done, right here in Connecticut
This past Sunday, BlackinGlastonbury, BLM860, PowerUp CT, Citizens Opposed to Police States, Comrades Care, and other organizations held a food drive at the center of Glastonbury, Conn., a pretty little wealthy town (median household income: $120,837) southeast of Hartford. The collected food was meant to go to North End Little Pantries, in Hartford (median household income: $36,278). Little pantries are exactly what they sound like — small containers with food that’s free for the taking, placed in neighborhoods where people need it.
Glastonbury participants were encouraged to bring signs, megaphones and food, especially canned foods, as the Hartford little pantry had run out.
This was, at its heart, a food drive. For people who need food.
Yet there in Glastonbury — a lovely riverside town that is nevertheless the hometown of the egregious Laura Ingraham — some people thought to mount a counter protest, which included a Glastonbury firefighter who commented — on camera — that he thought people who were overdosing on opioids should not be given the life-saving Narcan, that they should, instead, be left to die. The firefighter has since apologized. His situation is “under view,” according to Glastonbury’s town manager, and on social media, the department posted this:
The counter-protest also included at least one anti-vaxxer, who ranted that COVID is a hoax because egregious people — first responders who have no respect for the people they’re supposed to serve and anti-science dimwits — are drawn together as flies are drawn to shit.
For whatever comes of the firefighter, let’s not forget that he was among people who protested a food drive. A food drive. For hungry people who need help.
These same counter-protesters like to complain that #BLM is a violent movement, and I suppose the group sponsoring a peaceful food drive severely interrupts that particular false narrative. And so there those ignorant counter-protesters stand, making all humans everywhere look both ridiculous and awful. Shame on them.
What the actual f...
James Stanley is the opposite of a Public Servant, and surely has no business claiming to be a First Responder nor pretending to be a Fire Fighter when he pours gasoline over an already volatile subject and then tosses a match. His obvious oblivion to the devastation created by America's opioid crisis doesn't bode well for his compassion and ability to handle a simple COVID-19, racially charged or economically sensitive incident such as real fire fighters confront in these trying times, much less an actual fire with propane tanks on the porch and pets under the bed.
Say his name...
"Me thinks [they] doth protest too much." - with apologies to Mr. Shakespeare for involving his words with the tight-hearted and small-minded. Sigh. It really is hard for the rich to drive their money-laden camels through the smallest gate. Thank you Susan. I did not hear about this.