To the editor:

When I heard Colin Kaepernick say the following words at the end of an interview, my heart was filled with pride… but as we all know this is America the Ugly, so I braced for the backlash against him.

“Someone that’s holding a curling iron,” he said, “has more education and training than people that have a gun that are going out on the streets to protect us…”

This brilliant young man may have developed the solution that we need to make American cops honest and great again.

“Cops need more education… Let’s change the requirements to become a cop… only then will we get the best of the best…”

I wrote the above statement on my Facebook page and later tweeted the same.

Maybe if we require our officers a little more education, absolutely more than a high school diploma. More than six months in a classroom. An ethics class. A diversity class… etc.

A degree that requires them to go to college at least two years, we as taxpayers will of course pay for this education. After all, it will be an investment in a better future for us, our tax paid cops and our loved ones, present and future.

When an officer puts on his uniform to go to work, he knows that there is a chance that he or she may not make it back home safely. They are supposed to be trained to know that, and we need to make sure that they are psychologically fit to serve and protect.

My thing with the cops killing innocent people (sigh) is that folks should not have to worry about going out for a Sunday drive and being killed because of the color of their skin or because an uneducated cop is wearing his protect and serve as a license to kill people of color or anyone unjustly.

Colin Kaepernick received a lot of negative feedback, but at the end of the day, we need courageous young people to stand up for the right things and to absolutely acknowledge that racism — in all of it’s ugliness — still exists in America. This young man used his great voice and position to stand up to injustice and make a difference for all people.

He is the definition of American bravery. We should absolutely celebrate him. Those that would burn his sports gear are a disgrace to this great nation.

Of course blue lives matter, but the police are supposed to protect and serve, not harrass and murder. Let’s educate our officers for a better America. Let’s move forward with educated cops.

Patti Almanza

Hamlet

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