Tom Finneran : A White Guy’s Thoughts
Friday, June 26, 2015
Tom Finneran, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
He’s an evil, racist, morally depraved sob. He deserves to die, after a fair trial and conviction of course………………….
“He” is Dylann Storm Roof. His is the mind and the face of evil. He planned to brazenly murder American citizens in the midst of peaceful worship. And he succeeded in his evil plan, killing nine black Americans whose “sin” was the color of their skin. He’s a direct DNA descendant of Adolf Hitler, only operating on a smaller scale, but with identical immorality.
Let’s not sugarcoat this one. If we, with great frustration, criticize the mainstream Muslim community for its failures to denounce and condemn Muslim fanatics and terrorists, then we, the majority white American community, must denounce and condemn this ugly racist act and actor. His deeds are sickening hateful actions and while he might be mentally ill that does not excuse in the slightest way his horrific behavior.
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Nine Americans are dead because of this evil man. Nine families are shattered, their lives ripped apart by the news that a loved family member was gunned down at church. Think of that for a moment—a son or daughter, a mother or father, a brother or a sister went to church services and was gunned down by this evil hate-filled man.
A loving worshipful Christian community has been torn asunder by a shameful act of hatred. There at the church to hear God’s word and to practice their faith, that community came face to face with evil. The horror of that evil has scarred their lives. And yet they stoically soldier on toward God’s kingdom…….
Such faith, such strength, such love, such belief in the power and salvation of God and the brotherhood of man gives example to all. Within forty eight hours of the slaughter of their loved ones, several of the victims’ relatives offered words of kindness and forgiveness to the killer. They are better Christians, better people than I am. They matched Christian principles with Christian deeds and in doing so they shone light on the dark corner of human hate. They demonstrated that example is more powerful than precept. I wish that I had their strength for as the great prayer states ….”forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”. We are supposed to strive for such love. Yet I know that I fall short, far short, of God’s standard.
It is clear that the evil Mr. Roof thinks that black people are inferior beings, deserving of slaughter in some kind of cleansing race war. How stark then the contrast between his words and deeds and the words and deeds of the faith community he attacked. That black faith community, indeed it seems the entire state of South Carolina, has responded in splendid united denunciation of Mr. Roof and his hate-filled philosophy.
The last several days have been a moving spectacle down there in South Carolina. Contrary to a multitude of geographic, racial, and religious stereotypes, South Carolinians have come together in harmony, in peace, and in prayer. White and black, Republican and Democrat, Christian and Jew and Muslim, have been publicly united in shared condemnation of Mr. Roof’s racial hatred and evil acts. White churches and congregations have joined black churches and congregations in shared prayer and solidarity. How ironic it is that Mr. Roof’s ugly intolerance, apparently intended to spark a race war, may become instead a new chapter in a new and urgently needed age of racial reconciliation. That chapter seems to be being written right now and right before our eyes in the state which started the Civil War. From Fort Sumter to the blood-stained pews of Emanuel AME Church, it’s an American journey that matches the march of Moses.
How mysterious are God’s ways.
Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.
Related Slideshow: Top RI Fatal Police Incidents - See the Cases
The below slides list all 18 deadly incidents involving a police officer in Rhode Island between 2000 and 2013. Details and incident descriptions were collected from a national watchdog database of such incidents, FatalEncounters.org. For a number of incidents, official decisions regarding the justifiability of the officer’s actions were not available from the database.
Note that all known police killings, including those that were officially declared justifiable, are listed. So far, no recent incidents in Rhode Island have been deemed as unjustifiable or inexcusable, according to the database.
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Jamie Coyle
Age: 35 Male
Race: European
Incident Date: May 2nd 2013
Location: Pawtucket
Agency Responsible: Pawtucket Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Coyle was shot by two police officers who say they feared for their lives when Coyle got out of his car and pulled a gun on them.
Official Dispositon: Unknown
Symptoms of Mental Illness: Unkown
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Craig J. Raposa
Age: 25 Male
Race: European
Incident Date: February 2nd, 2012
Location: Portsmouth
Agency Responsible: Portsmouth Police Department
Caue of Death: Asphyxiated
Description: Police were called to Raposa's mother's residence where he became resistant and uncooperative. He'd had a history of mental illness. Although not arrested or accused of any crime, Raposa was restrained, cuffed and placed face-down on the parking lot asphalt for an extended period. He died of cardiac asphyxia.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: Yes
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John D. Martins
Age: 47, Male
Race: Uknown
Incident Date: April 18, 2006
Location: Pawtucket
Agency Responsible: Pawtucket Police Department
Cause of death: Gunshot
Description: Ex-con Martins had just robbed a Cumberland Farms store, and was having trouble starting his getaway car, when a police cruiser moved in nose-to-nose to his vehicle and trapped it. Martins rammed the cruiser at least twice; the officer in it shot him once through the torso. Martins managed to move his car a short distance before dying.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Eddy Tiburcio
Age: 41, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: July 28, 2008
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: Providence Police Department
Cause of death: Gunshot
Description: Police responding to domestic disturbance calls from Tiburcio's residence found his wife wounded and his three young boys distressed as they answered the door. Officers proceeded to the bedroom to find Tiburcio armed with a bayonet and threatening his wife with further injury. He raised the bayonet to threaten the officer, who killed hm with a single shot.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Timothy Picard
Age: 41, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: August 20, 2006
Location: Woonsocket
Agency Responsible: Woonsocket Police Department
Cause of Death: Taser
Description: Picard had struggled with his 19-year-old son, struggled with police trying to apprehend him, and struggled at police headquarters when behind booked. He was given two shocks with a stun gun. Shortly afterward he collapsed and didn't recover. He died within an hour.
Official Dispositon: Cleared of Wrongdoing
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Mark Kilcline
Age: 19, Male
Race: European
Incident Date: February 8, 2009
Location: North Kingstown
Agency Responsible: North Kingstown Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description:The mother of one of Kilcline's friends called police to have them check on his welfare over worries about his emotional health. In the resulting confrontation, Kilcline charged three officers with an 8-inch steak knife; they shot him a total of nine times and left him critically injured, one-eyed, and permanently paralyzed. He died of his injuries in April 2013. His family filed a lawsuit for excessive force, gross negligence and brutality, collecting $7M from the city.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Ilness: Yes
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Jason Swift
Age: 30, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: February 12, 2008
Location: Pawtucket
Agency Responsible: Pawtucket Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Swift's mother called 911 for assistance in bringing her agitated, delusional and physical imposing (6'4" and over 300 lbs) son to the hospital. Two officers reached the scene and Swift emerged with a sheathed sword. Ordered to drop the sword, Swift did so, and demonstrated he had no other weapons. The altercation moved inside and another officer arrived and joined in. The end result was Swift, naked, unarmed, and dead from two bullet wounds physically impossible according to the police account. His family settled a suit with the city for $1.3M.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: Yes
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Jason Audette
Age: 34, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: July 27, 2007
Location: Pawtucket
Agency Responsible: Pawtucket Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Audette, newly released from a correctional institution and with a significant criminal record, was discovered in a driveway by police responding to a burglary in progress. Audette displayed a handgun and was shot to death by officers. This incident was one day after the same department's killing of suspect Bridget DeCrafft.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Bridget DeGraftt
Age: 49, female
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: July 26, 2007
Location: Warwick
Agency Responsible: Pawtucket Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: DeGrafft carjacked an SUV from two teenagers at knifepoint at 1 a.m. and led state and local police on a chase through Attleboro, Cranston, and Warwick. Officers fired on her repeatedly. At the end three police cruisers boxed her in, she allegedly rocked the SUV back and forth to deliberately injure one of the officers, and she was shot to death. This incident was one day before the same department's killing of another suspect.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Selvin M. Garrido Morales
Age: 27, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: April 8, 2007
Location: Central Falls
Agency Responsible: Central Falls Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Two officers responded to a 911 call for help. On entering the apartment of Garrido Morales, they found him holding a knife over his own head. He refused to obey commands to drop the knife. Fearing for their own safety, officers shot him to death.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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James Wilcox
Age: 34, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: July 2nd, 2006
Location: North Smithfield
Agency Responsible: North Smithfield Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: A Super Stop & Shop market called police to report a shoplifter who'd made off with a quantity of baby formula. Police arrived to find Wilcox, in his minivan with his five-year-old daughter and another man. Wilcox attempted to flee and reportedly struck the officer with his vehicle. The officer shot Wilcox, fatally, once in the stomach.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Timothy Gileau
Age: 24, Male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: April 1, 2006
Location: Coventry
Agency Responsible: Coventry Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Coventry police were called to a domestic disturbance involving Gileau. Gileau produced a crowbar, threatened officers and lunged at them with the weapon. They shot him to death. A grand jury declined to indict the shooter.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Patrick A. Duffy
Age: 37, male
Race: European
Incident Date: September 27, 2005
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: providence Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Duffy is said to have threatened a man with a knife, stolen a purse from a student at a pizza restaurant, then was pursued on foot by a patrolman into a dead-end street. Duffy refused to obey police commands, threatened the officer with the knife, and was fatally shot once in the chest.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Jason Arcaro
Age: 26, male
Race: Unknown
Incident Date: April 4, 2004
Location: Woonsocket
Agency Responsible: Woonsocket Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Several officers converged on Nello's Motor Sales to investigate an account that a vehicle had been tampered with. Arcano began shouting that he had a weapon, and while in the service garage he kept one hand concealed behind his back. On disobeying commands to show his hand, he was killed with one shot. Police found only a screwdriver in his back pocket.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Alister McGregor
Age: 43, Male
Race: European
Incident Date: December 27, 2001
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: East Providence Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: McGregor was a Providence police captain teaching SWAT techniques when he was accidentally shot to death by a fellow officer. That officer was charged with involuntary manslaughter and given a deferred five-year sentence, which does not appear on a criminal history.
Official Dispositon: Excusable
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Alfred Torres
Age: 23, Male
Race: Hispanic/Latino
Incident Date: July 26, 2001
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: RI State Police
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Police attention was drawn to an unregistered Buick with four people in it because of minor traffic violations. Torres was a passenger and one of four people in the car. Before the traffic stop police saw a pistol thrown out of the car -- they later recovered a .22 -- and during the stop Torres made movements the police found suspicious and threatening. He was shot once in the head.
Official Dispositon: Justified
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Douglas Cooper
Age: 18, Male
Race: African-American
Incident Date: March 22, 2014
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: Providence Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Police happened across two rival street groups in an active firefight, Cooper among them. Three local plainclothes officers engaged both groups when they were fired on. Cooper was the only shooting victim.
Official Dispositon: Unreported
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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Cornel Young Jr.
Age: 29, Male
Race: African-American
Incident Date: January 28, 2000
Location: Providence
Agency Responsible: Providence Police Department
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Description: Young was an off-duty, out-of-uniform black officer at a 24-hour restaurant when a conflict broke out in the parking lot. Two white uniformed officers already on the scene immediately responded. Young produced his own handgun and positioned himself to assist. Stories differ about if, and how well, he identified himself. The other officers told him to drop his weapon, Young did not, and he was shot to death.
Official Dispositon: Cleared of criminal wrongdoing
Symptoms of Mental Illness: No
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