BREAKING: Charlottesville Police Chief to resign?

Someone had to be the scape goat for this mess, he wasn’t really qualified since he came from Lexington, va. Unfortunately I think he was forced out, and I hope he doesn’t carry the burden alone of what happened. There are a lot more hands in this fire!!!

Rob, how long can this Council keep on with their lies and deceit. Someone has got to investigate them. It’s like there is no law that they are under. They can call all the shots!! They hired Thomas, YES THEY HIRED THOMAS AND THEY MUST HAVE LET HIM GO!
Where does this madness stop?
Tear gas should have been used or even better bullets would have stopped both sides.
There will be more of these rallies you can bet your sweet butt on that!! AND YOU CAN THANK WES BELLEMEY FOR THIS!
And I for one want to see City Council who are responsible for this mess as it will continue, right down in the middle of a rally and with all this love that they say we have in this town, but just not for them. Then let them tell the Police to stand down. I would love to see this on video!!!

Hmm let me see, ordered by Council not to use tear gas. Yet blamed by Council for what happened when he was not provided the resources he needed by the city leadership… Ridiculous and I am saddened to think that Charlottesville has not one iota of leadership in city council, but hey that’s what they voted for.

I believe the people in Cville have lost their ever loving minds, they bitch and moan when the police do their jobs and piss and moan when they don’t. Someone at the city council meeting was having a total breakdown because the police removed 3 people from the meeting. All the while people were droping the F bomb and totally out of control, this Council has made a mockery and are a disgrace To they’re positions. They’ve lost total control and order in that chamber! As for the police! Theyre in a no win situation.
Also, I don’t understand how a vice mayor can tweet such vile racism and sexism, but never publicly denounce the Black Panthers, , BLM, and ANIFTA and not be called on the carpet? All the while he is calling on President Trump to denounce the KKK.
All he screams is racism, but that’s ok? This whole ordeal is his fault. All of these clowns on City Council need to go.

The mayor is the one who needs to resign!!

The Phoenix PD response to the “rally busters” should become the example as the proper way to respond to out of control masked (and unmasked) hoodlums. Ones right to protest ends when it infringes on the rights of others.

All the comments here are accurate but you’re urinating into the wind. People like us no longer have representation by the people we elect. They react to the left wing media it’s biased reports that will always absolve assholes like Bellamy and Signer from blame. We need responsible rallies not a group that was brought into town by Kessler. They won’t happen. The C’ville activist are directed back by UVA and it’s huge faculty and student population. The statues should be moved but not using the methods we’ve seen. My spending in Charlottesville will be slim and closer to none from here on. Stay the hell away and take our money elsewhere.

Why don’t you guys organize a “responsible” rally, Al? Why don’t you develop a little empathy for African Americans who feel insulted by a statue honoring someone who fought for the side that wanted to keep them enslaved? Why don’t you moderate your rhetoric a little and get people elected who campaign on your views instead of complaining that people who campaign on opposing views don’t represent you, as if they should? Why don’t you guys do a little soul-searching and take some responsibility for alt-right violence since you blame the local Left for antifa violence?

too many projects in the Ville, President Trump. There needs to be an overhaul from City Hall down to the welfare line. Dave Matthews spent a lot of money to revamp, supposedly? and the President a home? Damn shame.

over 144,000 black troops died fighting against the union mostly white troops .they fought for there land and way of life so when you say have empathy ken maybe you should open a book on the black american influenced in

the south and the north

What is supposed to be the end result of the movement to remove the statues?

First of all, Louis, most Civil War historians say the actual number of black soldiers who even fought for the Confederacy, never mind died, is much smaller. Secondly, what is your point? That it was OK for whites to fight for a government that kept blacks enslaved because a small minority of blacks, most of whom were probably forced to fight by their owners, fought or otherwise served too? That it was OK for whites to fight for a government that kept blacks enslaved because an even smaller small number of free blacks, who would not have wanted to anger the ruling white majority and in some cases held slaves themselves, fought too? Tell me, too, why, if black soldiers were fighting for their way of life (in other words, to stay enslaved!), most enslaved black soldiers deserted after the Confiscation Acts? I could go on. It’s sad that you guys will grasp at any straw to prop up the myth that the ”cause” the South fought for was noble when it was so clearly the opposite.

The “heritage” argument is an excuse too. I understand that it’s painful to give up a point of pride, but if you had a bunch of criminals in your family, would you honor them a part of your “heritage”? You can choose what to be proud of. You’ve chosen to be proud of evil.

Dr. Wes Bellamy should be man enough to resign and move on. But we know what kind of man he really is and its now the responsibility of City Council to remove him. I must add it apparent Wes Bellamy is the type person charlottesville greatly deserve.

White people on your side of a racial issue were violent, but the black man whose idea they violently reacted against should resign. There is a word for that attitude: racist.

Ken with his false equivalence. Please call this what it is: Politicians looking for scapegoats to wash their hands. As old as Pilate himself. Signer et. al. will then tell everyone that they “addressed the wrongs of the failed response” and the Stepford voters will breathe a sigh of relief.

We need some real reporter to ascertain the dyanmics between Signer, other councilpersons, Toscano and McAuliffe regarding the (lack of) prep and orders given for managing this debacle.

It did not occur in a political vacuum. And it is good to see Signer, Bellamy and the crew following the tenet “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Forbes, you’re addressing me but you didn’t answer my questions, and neither has anyone else, and that unfortunately demonstrates that you cannot. I don’t know what false equivalence you think I’m making, but if you really think you see one you ought to be able to state it in plain English. Cynicism proves nothing; make a logical argument. “Politicians looking for scapegoats to wash their hands” is an accusation, not an argument.

Here’s an argument: Crises are times when smart people of goodwill are willing to reevaluate issue and ideas and consider necessary changes and try new ideas. “Never let a good crisis go to waste” is therefore a wise policy for any leader.

Ken, not sure if your naivete is feigned. Not sure if your tossing around the “racist” moniker against anyone who finds Bellamy vile is something you had ingrained by some indoctrinator or were born with. Bellamy should resign. If he is unfit to serve on some government handout committee at the pleasure of another vile individual (McAuliffe) and he is unfit to work in the schools, then how is he fit to be a council person?
1. White people and black people were violent on August 12th. The folks calling for Bellamy’s head are also calling for Signer (white), Szakos (white) to resign. And you fling the nebulous “r” word around?
2. I am not sure what your beef with Al was. He wants the statues removed; he is correct in his discussion about a lopsided political representation in Cville.
3. If you refer to folks with Confederate soldiers in their ancestry as having “bunches of criminals” in their families, I hope you are careful how you label your heroes of today. Many of them also had criminals in their families.
4. By the way, if you ask any history professor about the mechanics of the study and recording of history, he/she will tell you two of the main tenets of research/recording/writing history are: a) to have empathy for those your are studying, for mindsets, attitudes, mores, etc. were different in past periods, and b) never, ever inject the morals or attitudes of today into the study and recording of the history of yesterday.

Now, you might say that those statues do not merely “record” history; they also honor the history. Well, I am not sure why the statues were not an issue in 1980 or 1990 or even 2000, but are worth dying for now.

Mmm, could it have something to do with 2017 being a convenient time to work on linking the outrage of the day to certain political figures for political expediency? Terry Mac, I hear 2020 calling! Mike S., if you’re a good boy, there might be something juicy waiting for you in Washington come 2020!

As the hero of all things socialist (who should, I suppose, be removed from our currency because he is only American president to imprison actual American citizens solely because of their race) opined: “Nothing in politics happens by accident; if it happened, you can be it was planned.”

I agree that Bellamy should have resigned when his tweets came to light, and I think I’ve said so on this blog. Opposing Bellamy isn’t racist. But if having no empathy for African-Americans in the revulsion many of them feel for the statue isn’t racist, what else would you call it? What else besides extreme ignorance would explain that lack of feeling for a group of fellow human beings? The violence on both sides was obviously reprehensible, but on only one side was it racist. What you guys want Signer and Szakos (whom I’ve also criticized in the past) to resign for is standing with African Americans on a racial issue.

If you agree with Al you should be to answer my questions to him.

I did not call Confederate soldiers criminals. My point is that no one is forced to honor what they are not proud of. Southerners can have legitimate pride in the courage of their Confederate ancestors, but not in the cause they fought for, which is what the statue was erected to honor.

In regards to point for four, I agree completely, but understanding needs to go both ways goes both ways: not only black to white, but also, and especially, white to black. Who, after all, was harmed by slavery and segregation? (Both whites and blacks, actually.)

You guys talk about lopsided political representation as if you’re victims. Vote, and don’t complain when you lose fair and square in a system set up by the Founding Fathers whom you say you revere.

I agree that we shouldn’t judge people in the past by the morally more enlightened standards of today. But we can and should judge their beliefs by these standards. It is one thing to remember history, as we should. It’s another thing entirely to honor parts of that history which should cause us shame.

Many older African-Americans don’t mind the statues and would rather have the money spent to remove them spent on something else, like their neighborhoods. I admire these people. I think it’s an unfortunate overreaction caused by political correctness for African-Americans to feel unsafe around those statues. Nonetheless, their feelings are understandable, and should be respected. Remember, they are the ones who were wronged, and their communities still suffer greatly from that wrong. Is it really too much for us to honor their wishes instead of honoring men who led the fight to keep wronging them? Terry McAuliffe didn’t start the movement to move the statues. Signer voted against moving it. Occam’s Razor. They don’t like symbols of white supremacy. Neither should we.

Look at your post from August 25th at 0826 hrs. That last paragraph is referring to Rebel soldiers as criminals and their cause for states’ rights as evil.

Your last paragraph above is so condescending and twisted, saying that you “admire the older AAs.” So who created and fostered that era of “political correctness” you speak of that causes AAs and other groups to be exploited by profiteering race baiters like the chap who was in Cville recently? And just because a groups feelings are “understandable” does not mean they are right or justified given the context.

It is contradictory to say we should not judge the past by the morally “more enlightened” standards of today but we should judge peoples’ beliefs by those standards. Their beliefs made those standards, so you are judging it as a package deal.

You tip your hand when you reflexively say “the morally more enlightened standards of today.” If you call what is going on in the inner cities, in the rural backroads of the south, what we hear from politicians on both sides, who we elect for office, the paltry percentage of people who vote, what is taught in schools, what we routinely see in Cville, what we see in the media, and what we hear in popular music, as “morally enlightened,” then you have some warped morals.

But alas, we always have statues.

Forbes, the paragraph you cite illustrates the fact that people don’t honor what they don’t believe is honorable. Fighting bravely in and of itself is honorable, and I don’t rank common soldiers with criminals. Neither have I called Lee or Jackson criminals. The truth is much more complex.

But while fighting to secede for the sake of – or if you prefer, simply when it will result in – the continuation of slavery isn’t criminal, it deserves no honor. That’s obvious. For the sake of argument I’ll accept for a moment the South’s dearly held argument that it was their right to self-determination they fought for, not their “peculiar institution” (talk about a euphemism). The fact remains that winning that right would have kept millions of human beings enslaved, and that would have been evil.

So yes, the Lost Cause was evil, and the Lee and Jackson statues were erected to honor, not the men themselves primarily, but the evil for which they fought. In other words, the statues were erected to honor evil, and for the people who want to take them down, they still honor evil. They’re fighting to take a monument to evil. You don’t have to think that’s what it stands for today to be able to understand and feel for the people who do. Why can’t you do that?

Political correctness, for all its foolish and silly and sometimes mean-spirited demands, arises from identification with people who have suffered and been victimized. Why is it you guys seem to have no sympathy at all for these people? Why is it you think you’re the victims? Sure the “elites” look down on you, but have the elites wronged you as badly as slavery and segregation and white cruelty wronged African-Americans? Why is it that the Christians among you don’t recognize your inability to identify with your political opponents as a failure to obey Christ’s commands to love your neighbor and even your enemy? You don’t have to like Wes Bellamy or approve of everything he’s said and done, or even approve of his policy prescriptions, to see he’s trying to counter injustice, and to have some sympathy for him on that level.

I believe we should look at the leaders of the Confederacy themselves and say “there but for the grace of God go I,” but look at their actions and call them wrong. To distinguish the men from their wrongs is not a contradiction, it’s humility. I am not heaping opprobrium on Lee’s head; he was in many ways an admirable man. I’m saying we shouldn’t honor him as a way of honoring what he did wrong. I don’t call any of the things in your list morally enlightened. But our understanding of racism, and our opinions of it, have fortunately advanced.

Ken, a Christian can identify with a political opponent and can love that opponent just as Christ loved us, however, the bible does not compel us to agree with that opponent. No failure here, Ken. It is admirable that you continue propping up and supporting Mr. Bellamy, Ken. He’s coming unhinged and needs some support and some guidance on how to be an effective leader.

Not a Lib, I said nothing about having to agree with your opponents (which would make no sense because it would mean they weren’t your opponents). What I’m saying is that when you love your enemy, you give them their due. Only when you’re willing to love your enemy, in fact, can you really understand him.

I’m a moderate because I see value in both liberalism and conservatism. I read and listen to and learn from people on both sides – lots of them.

What I wrote about Bellamy is that while he is trying to counter injustice, and deserves sympathy and understanding in that regard, he also should have resigned when his tweets came to light. If you’re going to mischaracterize what I say and then rebut that (not that you’re alone in doing so here), it’s not worth conversing with you. I’m not interested in straw man arguments.

Ken, funny that you mention straw man arguments. This is one of them from your recent post that elicited my response:
“Why is it that the Christians among you don’t recognize your inability to identify with your political opponents as a failure to obey Christ’s commands to love your neighbor and even your enemy”?
Unless you are an African American, I feel quite confident that I have as much ability to identify with Mr. Bellamy as you.

Anyone who identifies with Bellamy understands why he wants the statues removed. They don’t necessarily agree that they should be removed, but they don’t, as Forbes did, call him vile either. I wish the city would keep the statues in place and add signage explaining exactly why they were put up. But I respect their decision to remove them. If you identify with Bellamy, you understand why he believes the statues to this day honor the cause of slavery. You understand why he finds them offensive.

I think Bellamy is divisive. He has claimed to want unity but he really doesn’t because he doesn’t want to compromise. If he is unwilling to compromise, how can he expect to unite? I think past statements made online by Bellamy were vile. I hope he learned from it but I have my doubts. He seems to be filled with anger and resentment, perhaps even hate.
If the statues are torn down, will it help the most vulnerable in the African American community within the city that Bellamy represents? I don’t think so, not in the slightest. Why isn’t he doing anything to help those people? Perhaps it’s because he can’t see past his anger and wants to fight rather than work towards solutions to the public housing issues, joblessness and broken families.

Bellamy’s racist and lascivious tweets were vile, sure. But is he filled with more anger and resentment and perhaps even hate than the many people on your side, the president included, who constantly sneer at liberals, and doesn’t he have much better reasons?

I agree that Bellamy’s insistence on not compromising is at odds with his promise to promote unity, but let’s remember who’s had the power all these years. As soon as African-Americans get power they should compromise with you guys? Reverse the history; now, how eager are you to compromise? Is it morally incumbent upon you to do so?

If the statues are torn down, will it help the most vulnerable in the African American community within the city that Bellamy represents?

In today’s unfortunate political climate, where offensive speech and offensive symbols are not only hurtful but are considered downright dangerous, I understand why Bellamy thinks the answer is yes. But also, if I’m not mistaken, he is calling on the city to spend a great deal of money helping low-income city residents.

Your rationalizations not withstanding, Bellamy should be interested in compromise. But unfortunately, he’s not bright enough to realize he could get much more done for the people (including his people) if he did at least feign interest in compromise. He hasn’t learned much about effective leadership, he has just become more bitter. It really is a shame. It’s news to me if Bellamy is making any proposals on council to help low income residents.

What compromises would you endorse from your side? Would you be willing to have the statue moved to McIntire Park?