After a data breach, it was revealed to the public that a host of police officers used their work emails to donate money to self-proclaimed white supremacists – including far-right activists, other officers who’ve killed Black people, and Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. The name of one of those officers is out – and he’s in hot water.
Sergeant William Kelly donated to Rittenhouse, commenting, “You’ve done nothing wrong … Every rank and file police officer supports you.” Oh? When Kelly’s department in Norfolk, Virginia got a hold of this, he was promptly fired! Well, sort of – he can still technically appeal.
The Norfolk police department may have fired Kelly, but this isn’t a situation of just removing the “bad apple.” Thousands of dollars in donations from Kenosha officers also rolled into Rusten Shesky’s bank account – the officer who shot Jacob Blake.
Kelly wasn’t the only officer involved – he’s just the officer that got caught. We shouldn’t praise his department; they needed to sacrifice Kelly to convince the public that they actually, as Norfolk’s Police Chief recently stated, “serve and protect.”
So, what’s the point of police officers if they're not only neglecting to keep us safe, but are directly funding white supremacists who kill us? The truth: white supremacists and police officers aren’t mutually exclusive.