Community, Sheriff Support Thin Blue Line Flag After California City Council Calls It Racist

Community members in California are upset after their local city council called the “thin blue line” flag a racist symbol.

Upset at the city council’s declaration, these community members decided to protest by waving the pro-law enforcement flag in downtown Livermore, California, KTVU reported.

Last week, a Livermore city council committee deemed the “thin blue line” flag, along with the Confederate flag, racist symbols. The committee — comprised of community members and council members — was conducting an “inventory of racist symbols.”

The city council committee’s reasoning for taking inventory of these symbols had to do with making sure only inclusive symbols were displayed at city-owned properties.

Officials involved in the discussions hoped to make things transparent by posting the discussion notes of the committee online, the Pleasanton Weekly reported. However, their plan backfired on them, ruffling the feathers of many residents.

The Alameda County Sheriff was one of those people who begged to differ with the committee.

“The thin blue line actually stands for the line between justice and injustice and evil and righteousness,” said Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern. “So we support the thin blue line, and we do that every day in our job.”

Livermore is not the only city to take a swipe at the thin blue line flag. A Florida high school banned the thin blue line flag from its football games in September over fears it might be construed as a political statement representing the views of the team and the school.