Hate is one of those things can can damage communities and ruin reputations. Its a shame because the people who often start these problems don't every really get the help they need and in turn engage in such behaviors again and again when personal can be realized. Positive and negative aspects of hate have emerged from this situation. For one, the community in general has rejected these hate and bigoted information and has started the process of a reconnecting (except the sports group). Multiple law enforcement departments that were involved (mostly unknowingly but definitely some knowingly) in a "get the Muslim" campaign have learned the erroneous ill intent of the initiating extremist views and have corrected (That is what we want to see as a society. Mistakes are mistakes but intentional repeated mistakes could be criminal.).
Unfortunately, it appears that one department has persisted in some ways up until a few months ago where there was an attempt to create false pretense (2nd or 3rd time) and then went on to what appears to be a second round of smear campaign designed to create a boundary between "these" people and "those" people (Minority is seen as anyone deemed different and not exclusive to a specific race or religion). It should be noted there could be some Federal and State violations of law (The law is only a partial marker of moral conscious. They should be in line but are not always. That is why we have to update our laws to deal with modern issues such as domestic extremism that uses official/unofficial positions to harm targets they view as less than American. Or at least less value than them. See MI Counsel and Code.)
(It is important to say that facts require investigation but these are observations that appear to be correct and based in observable incidents and artifacts. I would say its modeling that is beyond conjecture and just shy of fact. Very close to fact but that would require access to additional information, interviews, follow up, documents, phone records, questioning witnesses, etc....The model appears as least partially/mostly valid.)
The sad state of affairs is that even though the initiating group (Surrounded by unquestioning social support stemming from a sports group too connected to the offending department. I should note most of the people are good natured but there are closely associated with some other people that are seen as the "in-group". I think they know who the trouble makers are in the bunch because many have known each other since childhood. I'm pretty sure you could trace back many of the rumors to find their sources.) were obvious in ill intent, racial-religious focus, and were exploiting their social connections to not only circumvent the law but also give a free hand to certain behaviors before a forcible stop (Through more correct information they couldn't ignore and/or through other stakeholders that have greater awareness of factors involved). I have no indication that anyone within that initiating group came to any moral remorse until forced to think about it when the wind changed out of their favor (i.e. logic versus conjecture was followed).
Where are we now?
I can't say what I don't know. What I can say is that based on observation, data, information, etc... there was a significant default in local justice (If I was one of these officials I would be upset that I was given false information and in a small town I would be even more upset people in official positions could be so easily manipulated by such groups. Don't worry about feeling upset about the damage to the "targets". I personally don't expect there to be any/much level of remorse by most of the people involved. It just is what it is! The invisible to most line between societal conversations/expectations where logic between two large halves of society switch from these to those. You would need to have a pretty good understanding of each of the culture factors to understand that switch in language and self-confirming logic on both sides of society. See Gifted Language Abilities/ Encoding-Decoding and Language Logic That is why our leaders should focus around essential core American values and principles that tie us together instead of self-interested politics that don't reflect the reality of American lives. Not to mention our prospects for the future. 🤷). While the initial threats were stopped there is some background difficulties as it relates to at least one department and/or group still seeking to block full community engagement on what on the surface appears to be extremist connections and associations (Could of course be other explanations.). It appears that certain rumors have not been retracted and they are continuing to cause problems in a way that is highly likely a Federal crime on multiple legal domains (Maybe not...that will just depend on the integrity of the system.)
Here is what I envision a Win Win situations:
-The initiating group gets counseling for their history of false information, aggression, and uncivilized behaviors. This was not the first attempt and intentionally involving "flying monkeys" through caddy and self interested methods of bullying people in the community.
-Local law enforcement learns from the situation and develops mechanisms to protect those seen as "other". Its an opportunity to train and teach on different aspects such as investigations, bigotry/bias, the Constitution, and other factors that make America unique (Its all of our America). There is a lot that can happen here so lets improve the local system where it seems practical and plausible.
-They create appropriate professional difference/distance from these social networks that support hate and biased behaviors. Its hard to be objective when your buddies and friends are encouraging you to act in ways that violate the law. There is an aspect of duty that moves beyond these friend networks.
-The officer that has received multiple complaints ranging from rape to underhanded tactics have a thorough investigation to ensure they are qualified to continue in his/her positions (This should be an honest review and not a gloss our eyes look.). It also exposed 3-5 other officers potentially engaging in corrupted self-gain tactics and they also need a review to ensure they are not exploiting the local population.
- Any ill and false information intended to smear the target(s) that is not based in fact be retracted from their social and professional networks because it raises risks again not only for the targets but all the bad decisions that can come from it. Any road blocks employment, community service, or other engagement be removed (There is an incident that I'm going to track back now to see who made the decision and whether there was any legitimacy to that decision. If there was I will just shrug my shoulders, if it is something I misunderstood then I will be happy I took my time systematically figuring it out, but it if was intentional it will likely have to be addressed from a legal/moral stand point.)
-There is so much more I can't even begin to talk about them. This can't happen again and we have greater responsibilities to our child (my children who are also targeted in the rumor attempts to exploit them) to ensure we walk to the talk in our national values. I think most are now trying to do the right thing but there are those who continue to block opportunities and access through the "grey" areas of the law that delve into their personal connections. Being a single America means we share certain values and principles as they apply to everyone. When it comes to national improvement there is only three colors we need to worry about, "Red, White and Blue".
As far as anyone is concerned I'm a light right conservative person who considers himself a cultural Catholic with deep respect for the similarities between esoteric truths of Muslim-Catholic-Jewish traditions. You can hold out a helping hand but they must reach for it. Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong. See Integrity in Justice and Son of Man
