Ontario Police Union Flies Controversial Flag Tied To Blue Lives Matter
The thin blue line flag is also tied to the Blue Lives Matter campaign, founded in the U.S. in 2014 as a harmful countermovement to Black Lives Matter. Experts say this position — popular among police unions — advances a detrimental “us versus them” mentality (instead of cooperation with community groups) and undermines the real issue of police violence against Black people.
Blue Lives Matter creates a “reverse discrimination” narrative that casts police as victims who are under attack and shields them from “public accountability for their own violence against racialized communities,” said York University professors Mark Thomas and Steven Tufts in a recent studythat looked at the relationship between police solidarity, unions, race and populism in North America.