Nevada Sheriff Loses Sh*t When Library Suggests Perhaps Black Lives Matter

The unutterable words.

The public library in Douglas County, Nevada, did something terrible. Possibly the worst thing a library could possibly do: It included the words "We support Black Lives Matter" in a draft of a diversity statement that it planned to discuss at a library board meeting. Recognizing that the phrase "Black Lives Matter" actually means "we literally wish all cops would die in an orgy of mob violence," the local top lawman, Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley, posted a letter Monday to his office's official website to advise the library that it needn't bother calling 911 for help, sorry not sorry, good luck when the looters come for you:

Due to your support of Black Lives Matter and the obvious lack of support or trust with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, please do not feel the need to call 911 for help. I wish you good luck with disturbances and lewd behavior, since those are just some of the recent calls my office has assisted you with in the past.

After the letter went viral on social media, and the library cancelled its board meeting, Coverley walked back his warning that the library was going on the Sheriff's Do Not Call list, insisting that nah, he was simply providing a "public comment" of concern about the library's diversity statement, and of course his office would respond to 911 calls from the library, where'd you get such a silly idea? Coverley and the library's director, Amy Dodson, met Tuesday and had a frank exchange of ideas, after which both, presumably through gritted teeth, said everything is fine, just fine between the sheriff's office and the library system, OK?

Douglas County, in northwest Nevada next to the southern part of beautiful Lake Tahoe, is home to nearly 50,000 souls. The main library is located in the county seat, Minden, population a hair over 3,000. According to the 2010 Census, the county is 89.6 white, though who even knows what sort of riffraff in the area may have started getting the idea that their lives matter since then.

The library's draft diversity statement was part of a national campaign by libraries to condemn violence and racism, and express support for the goals of Black Lives Matter. (Like, the real goals of being treated as human beings by officialdom, not the imagined goal of burning America to the ground.)

Here's the draft, which had been scheduled to be discussed at a library board meeting last night before wingnuts on social media lost their shit and Sheriff Coverley had an official hissy:

 Board Agenda 7-28-20 SPECIA... by Tabitha Mueller on Scribd

The unspeakable line falls in the second paragraph:

The Douglas County Public Library denounces all acts of violence, racism, and disregard forhuman rights. We support #Black Lives Matter. We resolutely assert and believe that all formsof racism, hatred, inequality, and injusticedon't belong in oursociety.

Nothing in the draft, you'll notice, calls for the defunding of police. Law enforcement isn't even mentioned.

But those three words were just too much for Coverley. He posted a long screed addressed to the library board, arguing that hardly any unarmed Black people are ever killed by police, and explaining that when communities believe the "myth" that cops are racist, or that they treat minorities unfairly, cops will die. The indispensable Nevada Independent points out that most of the letter's text is simply lifted verbatim from an earlier letter sent to congressional leaders by a group of conservative attorneys general and the Western States Sheriffs Association in June.

Coverley's version of the letter explained that George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis was "tragic and preventable," but that it was due only to "bad actors" among law enforcement. But don't worry, the letter lies, "data simply does not support claims that law enforcement is systemically racist or structurally biased." That, of course, is the sort of bullshit you get when you cherry-pick the data like a common Attorney General of the United States.

But you know what IS dangerous? Saying there's a problem with policing in America. If such "myths" are allowed to circulate, cops will be murdered, because they just will. And if the library says it supports Black Lives Matter, well then that's just the same as saying cops must all die. Coverley emphasizes his agency is the thin tan line between order and complete anarchy in Douglas County, so the library better watch its step:

The Douglas County Sheriffs Office is the only local law-enforcement agency in Douglas County and it is the men and women of DCSO that keep you safe. The Black Lives Matter movement openly calls all law enforcement corrupt and racist on their website. They call for the defunding of police, and we have seen how a lack of active law-enforcement has worked in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Numerous Black Lives Matter protests have resulted in violence, property damage and the closing of local businesses, sometimes permanently. To support this movement is to support violence and to openly ask for it to happen in Douglas County.

And then comes the suggestion that since the library clearly wants cops to die, or at the very least just go away, it can just not bother calling 911.

Now, we did a little looking around on the Black Lives Matter website, and we simply didn't find a declaration that "openly calls all law enforcement corrupt and racist." That's certainly not in the group's " What We Believe" section, or anywhere else we could find. The closest thing to such a statement is in the group'scall to defund police, which calls for "an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken." But only an idiot who thinks "systemic racism" means "all cops are racist and corrupt" would misread it that way.

Hi, Sheriff Coverley!

Social media blew up Tuesday with stories about the crazy Nevada sheriff who told the local library it was now going without law enforcement protection, just like it wanted, and Tuesday afternoon, the Sheriff's website featured a clarification saying the letter was simply a "public comment" in advance of the board meeting that ended up being cancelled, and stating that the Sheriff's office "will continue to respond to all 911 calls, including those at the Library." Coverley said all he wanted to do was "to provide public comment about their proposed diversity statement and to further provide open commentary about how this could affect our local law enforcement profession." By saying the library was inviting violence and cop-killing, and by implying 911 calls could go unanswered.

Coverley said after meeting with Dodson that he just loves America so much that he had to say an assholish thing. At least that's how we'd summarize his comments:

I am passionate about and proud of the work the Sheriff's Office does for all members of this community. This has been a difficult time to be a law enforcement professional and can be disheartening when we perceive that our office may be under attack. My response was rooted in my belief that these issues need to be openly discussed in a way that values diversity and law enforcement.

An open discussion of how I just might withdraw my department's protection if you people don't more vigorously support your local sheriff. Gosh, that sounds just like Bill Barr, too! 

We wish Douglas County good luck, and hope voters remember this when Coverley's first term as sheriff is up in 2022.

[ Nevada Independent / South Tahoe Now / Douglas County Sheriff / Douglas County Sheriff ]

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