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Letter: Question Wiggins’ fitness for his job

While it’s not surprising that there are people out there who hold opinions like Sheriff Wiggins with respect to the recent nationwide protests regarding systematic racism in our country, and he is entitled to his opinions and the right to express them, I do have to question his judgement to make public his clearly political view given his position and role in our community.  

As to his opinions, there are only a handful of explanations. Either he is ignorant of the facts and the reality and impacts of systematic racism against black people, or he is aware of those facts and chooses to ignore them because of his own prejudices or partisan beliefs. It is no surprise that given the level of anxiety and fear today as a result of COVID-19, added to the atmosphere of divisiveness that has been promulgated by the current administration, that the horrendous murder of George Floyd caught on video and shared around the world would create a tipping point. It has illuminated the generations-old and ongoing specter of systematic racism and that exposure has opened so many people’s eyes resulting in people taking to the streets to peacefully protest. In the ’60s, we took to the streets to protest an unjust war and things changed for the better.

Today, people are protesting the injustice of systematic racism and police abuse of black people, and because of this outcry, hopefully, things will change for the better again. But for Sheriff Wiggins to claim he doesn’t see systematic racism or it’s not significant enough to infuriate people to protest in and of itself and that these protests are about the election, really makes me question his fitness for his job.



Ken Gold
Steamboat Springs


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