police chief rants on Facebook

Skylar Dore, the former police chief of Jonesville, La., was fired after he posted a profane message on Facebook criticizing President Obama's response to recent attacks on police



JONESVILLE, La. - Sunday sermons had just ended when residents of this river town learned that a lone black gunman had killed three police officers in Baton Rouge. Before the news could sink in, a profane message appeared on Facebook.

"Hey Mr. Bulls--- president," it began. "When are you going to grow a f---ing pair. And tell it like it is. These are terrorist. That have declared f---ing war on my brother. (White police officers) enough is enough."

The author was Skylar Dore, Jonesville's white chief of police.

The post instantly cleaved the community in two. Many black residents, who make up 70 percent of Jonesville, saw it as a racist rant. Some whites defended Dore, saying he had the right to speak his mind. Two days later, the majority-black town council fired the young chief.

If his post had stirred anger, then his firing provoked outrage. Dore received encouragement, even employment offers, from across the country. But he also received death threats. When a friend organized a march on Dore's behalf, the sheriff persuaded him to call it off for fear it could turn into a shootout.

Today, Jonesville remains on edge. Some whites think the town's black officials are putting political correctness ahead of public safety. Some blacks see ugly hints of the racial violence that has long haunted the Deep South in Dore's profane post and the online debates that followed.

In Jonesville - as in many places across the nation - both black people and police feel under attack.

Dore says he is not a racist. He says he is fighting for his First Amendment rights.

"I was upset with the president. Quite frankly, I still am," he said, saying President Obama failed to act aggressively against black nationalist "terrorists," such as the Baton Rouge shooter, Gavin Long. "I'm a police officer. I'm a chief. But I'm also an American citizen, and I have just as much rights as any other American citizen."

His critics, however, say Dore's post not only exposed his racist views but also raised questions about his past, including ones tied to unsubstantiated allegations that he caused the death of a black man in custody. That the majority-black town had entrusted Dore with the badge compounded the sense of betrayal.

"This has brought out the real intentions of people, what they really think and really feel," said Sharon Stevenson, a black resident who led the campaign to fire Dore. "The mask has come off."
'I was too nice'


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