It was hardly a condemnation. It was more of a list of excuses for why Newell Arnerich didn't do anything. "Danville Town Council, our police department and town staff continue to work to make Danville a safe place for everyone." How exactly? He doesn't say. Also, where was Newell Arnerich during COVID shutdown? He was hiding at home not caring about how many small businesses were shutting down nor how many kids were struggling with isolation. Has Newell Arnerich done anything to support this community further since? No. In fact, Newell Arnerich was one trying to take away TLUPs for outdoor dining downtown. Newell Arnerich doesn't care about solving problem, Newell Arnerich cares about photo ops and being congratulated for other people's accomplishments.

There are multiple storylines in the article but not all of them connect directly to one another.
The Buffalo NY story is both tragic and abhorrent. Obviously that shooting was motivated by hate and I suspect mental illness played a role too.
The small group of local protestors stirred up some emotions with signs but apparently the people were not violent. Signs referencing any racial group, White, Black, etc, can potentially trigger emotional reactions but that is a tough balancing act between free speech and public safety in some cases.
It is a complex world and we have a huge learning curve ahead of us.

This is very disturbing development in our area. I believed that our area is an educated and civilized society. The culprits Must have been arrested by Police, even on private property, for disturbing peace and harmony in our peaceful communities. One more such incident will bring out demonstrations by minorities in Danville, to expose presence of Racist & Misguided people in our communities. We are watching Danville, how you handle such nasty incidents in the future !!!

There is nothing “disturbing“ about divergent opinions, even if they raise a certain emotional level. To suggest they should’ve been arrested is bizarre. Not to mention completely un-American. The fact that someone says “we will be watching you“ is scary and disturbing in and of itself.

Could someone explain the difference between all the signs that were displayed for 'black lives matter' (even writing on the streets) and a sign for 'white lives matter'? Are we not allowed to state white lives matter? I believe all lives matter!

ddmom - I would like to know the difference as well. Police took names of the "Black Lives Matter" folks but didn't do the same for these folks. Why is that? Why does Newell Arnerich feel that he needs to justify the non-involvement of police here? Here is a better question, were any of the folks in the white masks part of the Contra Costa Sheriffs department / Danville Police?

Why did Mayor Newell Arnerich felt that police should be taking identifications of parents at public school board meetings but didn't feel the same about this situation ????

Chandra, this is constitutionally protected speech. That's a very slippery slope to arrest someone exercising their rights when groups vandalizing public property with the same message but with one different word were given a pass and even celebrated by some.

Conscious Contra Costa announces a protest tonight in downtown Danville.

"Danville, this is not a Democracy.....this is a CHEEROCRACY!"

All lives, whether black, brown, white, or other, truly matter, and all are a gift from God and all should be cherished and treated with respect and dignity. Some will see a black person with a "Black Lives Matter" sign and feel excluded and hated for not being black. Some will see a white person with a "White Lives Matter" sign and feel excluded and hated for not being white. If you truly want all lives to matter, which should be everyone's goal, than do not create divisions with messages that create more divisions.

We should simply follow the colorblind Golden Rule: Treat all as you would want to be treated, regardless of color.

"Faith, hope, and love remain, these three: but the greatest of these is love".-I Corinthians 13:13

Freedom of speech was intended to promote good (Ideas) over evil. Not Hate or Violence ! If we take that right literally, there is No End to Nonsense; we can make our own Rules of Conduct, and do Anything that we Want !! But, we live in a Democracy, where majority decides how we behave and how we conduct !!! No one Person/Group/Community/City/State can Rule over the Rest of America !!!! Division is Destructive, but Unity is Strength !!!! Perhaps, we can learn from the Re-birth of Unity (Strength), that West has Engineered recently against the Ruthless Russia (Putin), and talk about the Freedom of Speech for Ukrainians/Russians/Chinese/North Koreans/Iranians/Saudi's, etc., etc. Let's work together for Global Strength, Not Divisiveness !!!!! Please Remember: If we don't change the course/our behavior, we are contributing in the Natural Extinction of Human Race, Sooner than Later !!!!!!!

Somebody might want to understand we are a republic, first thing, and secondly please read the first amendment.

Kjgamble - what does "we are a republic" have anything to do with this exactly? Are you suggesting that a "republic" doesn't care about public safety / law enforcement ?

H, my guess would be it was a reference to Chandra who said, "But, we live in a democracy, where majority decides how we behave and conduct !!!" And advocated the arrest of the banner waivers despite this being constitutionally protected conduct.

Here's a civics lesson for you Chandra. We are not a democracy. We are a constitutional republic which was precisely designed to protect the minorities from the majority's "mob rule." This is precisely why we have the Electoral College.

I am going out on a limb here, but the fact that you separate your punctuation with a space, leads me to believe that the USA is probably not your place of birth. That's perfectly fine. You're welcome here. But please do study up on your civics before demanding that free speech be silenced, people arrested (even on private property) and warning us that you will be "watching us."

Have a good day.

Dapper Danville - What part of California State law is "republic" in nature? Since 1911, California has been a "direct democracy" as the voters retain powers of recall, initiative, and referendum. Regardless, what does that again have anything to do with law enforcement? Danville sent police to monitor black lives matter people and also monitor the public at school board meetings so why would the police monitoring this group be any different? Help me understand your point, I don't get it.

Newell Arnerich is basically saying that anyone can do anything at anytime on that corner and Danville PD can't/shouldn't do anything to interfere. Unless the exact property owner contacts I guess the County Sheriff, that nothing can be done to any group of people that gather on that corner. Do you people here agree with that? Isn't there a place for public safety in your "constitutional republic?" Police did the same in 2020 after the election and showed up at the exact same location and monitored to some degree. No one was arrested then. Should these people in question here be arrested? No. Should they have been treated with the same police response as everyone else that gathers to voice opinions on public policy in Danville? Yes.

@H -- Free speech. Free speech is not granted by any local elections or what the majority here thinks in Danville or California for that matter. Free speech is enshrined in the Bill of Rights and is protected at the national level. Furthermore, it's not a problem if the police monitored the event. I would expect them to. In my comment, I mentioned nothing about the police. Chandra was advocating that the "culprits Must have been arrested by Police, even on private property, for disturbing peace and harmony in our peaceful communities." As far as I am aware, their "protest" or "banner event" was fairly peaceful. My response to Chandra was nothing more than a civics lesson in free speech.

@H and Chandra

And as I read again Chandra's second posting "Freedom of speech was intended to promote good (Ideas) over evil."

That's simply not true Chandra and that's not the meaning of free speech. Free speech is free speech. It matters not whether you agree with it or you feel it's good or evil. Poor Chandra is terribly misguided on what free speech is and what it means to American citizens.

Dapper Dan,
Apologize to Chandra. What an assumption and statement about her race/ethnicity/birth place. While you may think you know it all, you don’t. Lower your little pinky and sit down as you’re welcome here too- thanks to your ancestors that arrived here. However, your racist, arrogant and ignorant behavior is not welcome.

Meanwhile…

The Ukrainians are fighting for their very existence, while Chandra complains about a “White Lives Matter” flag. Get your priorities in order.

@MikeL — Mike. I am not apologizing for anything. I said nothing wrong or offensive. I did not mention Chandra’s race, ethnicity or birthplace.

For your feeble enlightenment, nearly all of Europeans tend to be taught to leave a space after the word and then the punctuation. This has absolutely nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It might indicate coming from somewhere outside the US. Our grammar rules do not teach to leave a space! (Example!)

Having said that, understanding that Chandra may not have grown up here would explain Chandra’s woeful understanding of what free speech really is and why it’s important.

You, MikeL. seem to be part of the chronically offended that see race and ethnicity as part of every single thing in your pitiful life. I feel sorry for you. You and your ilk are destroying this country. Here am I. Exercising my free speech.

PS: MikeL. You referred to Chandra as “her” in your post. Are you certain Chandra prefers to be referred to as “her?” Maybe Chandra prefers “he” or “they.” You should apologize unless you know Chandra and their preferred pronouns.

Such is the world we now live in.

Dapper Danville - Your civics lesson is non sequitur given that Danville Police had no issue with with being present to monitor parents at SRVUSD board meetings and that Police were at the exact same location for protests in 2020. You fail to answer with your "civics" why the police were at both of these "free speech" events I mention but nowhere to be seen at the event mentioned in this article. Please explain with "civics" why the police should be questioning parents at school board meetings but not questioning masked white supremacists echoing the message of a mass shooter hours after the murders.

Also, you are ignorant for insisting that putting a space after punctuation is European. It's a carryover form typewriters. Some people are taught it, other are not regardless of the continent of their birth.

Dapper you’re the entity (don’t want to offend any fragile, victim hoarding, ignorant, social justice warriors). Truly rich and satisfying, and hilarious, to see their tactics used against them, guess they didn’t have the foresight to see that the tide might change against ‘em.

For anyone who may disagree with me and find the “protestors” and their signs offensive/appalling, it may be difficult to accept but you are the ones who created & fueled them.

@Rick Surewood,

Excellent analysis regarding social justice warriors and their tactics. I would also agree with you that the tide is turning, or, as I like to say, the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way.

Personally, I call social justice warriors groupthink gangsters. Groupthink is the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. College campuses, as one example, are rife with this psychological phenomenon. It’s the “join us or else” mentality.

I also view these social justice warriors as people who simply want power. It’s not their goal of achieving a stated outcome, it’s their goal to achieve power.

Birkman Tillary - why is it that you nor any of the others regurgitating InfoWars buzz words without context can explain why the the Mayor felt that Police at the school board meetings to monitor parents that wanted kids to be maskless in school was acceptable yet monitoring people that are echoing the same sentiment as a mass murderer are left alone? Explain that please.

Dapper Danville is on point. ????????????????

Those question marks were supposed to be thumbs up

@ H

You have established one thing: you are not a fan of InfoWars. Well, I do not subscribe to InfoWars either. However, your quip about a mass murderer left me scratching my head. You equate a bunch of people (kids I assume) who fly a white lives matter flag with the same sentiment of a mass murderer? Egads! A tad overkill, don’t you think? Your reasoning is about as weak as Russian armor.

Your are upset about the fact that there was not a police presence while a small number of folk flew a flag. Why would there need to be a police presence if those who flew that flag were peaceful? Would you say the same about those folk who carried a BLM flag, and burned down buildings? I can cite numerous incidents where people with BLM flags and apparel were anything but peaceful; unlike some school board meetings that have actually had their fair share of threats, name calling, and violence.

By golly, Mr. H, let’s just ban everything unless there is a police presence nearby!





.

Birkman Tillary - why can't you answer a simple question without hyperbole - why did the Mayor have Danville Police follow people asking questions at a public meeting yet do nothing in this case? You clearly have a reading problem because I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of the Mayor saying the Police can't do something that they've clearly done in the past.

Birkman Tillary - Don't bother answering. It's clear to me you don't have any original thoughts on the matter. Since your are limited to regurgitating what you see in some facebook memes, you don't have the tools to respond to my basic question comparing local events.

What the H?

Now H, did the mayor of Danville actually order police to follow people and ask them questions at a public meeting?

The mayor of Danville is not the chief of police, nor is he in their chain of command; unless of course you assume the mayor ordered the chief of police to have his officers follow people. And keep one thing in mind: the police are beholden to the law, not the mayor.

Now H, I am definitely in your court if this alleged act by the mayor occured. As for the people waiving the WLM flag(s), they have every right.

But one wonders... What if the WLM flag was replaced by a Confederate flag? Or, what if the BLM flag was replaced by a Black Panther Party flag?

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

For the ones here spewing buzzwords while ignoring reality - there were TWO police officers at a regular SRVUSD school board meeting on June 7th to monitor parents. Why does the mayor think this is fine but makes excuses why it's wrong in this case here?

A demonstration such as this makes participating white Contra Costa County protestors look like avid followers of Tucker Carlson.

And no one in their right mind would want that.