SMOTHERED BY QUOTATION MARKS?

     Sheriff David Clarke, an elected Democrat for Milwaukee County, is often in conflict with the Mayor, a white liberal Democrat, and his appointed Chief of Police, a white who is probably liberal too.  Clarke is a Democrat, a Black but also for law and order.  He opposes gun control efforts and has urged the law-abiding to try to protect themselves.  He spoke at the 2016 GOP Convention and supported Republican Donald Trump for President.  Most Milwaukee Left-winger despise him.  On Sunday 21 May 2017 the Milw. Journal Sentinel ran an article discussing Clarke's "plagiarism", which I discuss below.  --  Hugh Murray

             In his article, “Clarke accused of plagiarism,” (Sun. 21 May 2017, p. 17A) John Fauber discusses the latest charge against Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke.  Fauber quotes the original CNN story, which conceded: “In all instances…Clarke credits [his sources] with a footnote, but does not indicate with quotation marks that he is taking the words verbatim.”  Clarke thus failed to conform to academic rules by omitting quotation marks.  Should Clarke be barred from a post with the Dept. of Homeland Security because he missed the marks?

            When it comes to plagiarism, there is little doubt that Rev. Martin Luther King plagiarized large parts of his doctoral dissertation.  No one noted it at the time.  Did anyone outside of his committee even read King’s dissertation back then?  Today, does anyone beside the small number on the academic committees ever read the dissertations and theses?  (Science and math dissertations may be the exception where new experimental knowledge can be advanced within dissertations.) 

            Should King have been barred from leading the Montgomery bus boycott movement because he had plagiarized?  Of course, not.  At that time, no one was aware of the plagiarism, but had they known, so what?  Today, we judge King not on his plagiarism – or other human failings – but on his great strength and courage to stand up for freedom when much of the government was adhered to oppression.  Indeed, it is only after King became prominent that anyone bothered to read and analyze his dissertation to discover plagiarism.

            Clarke should not be judged on his missing quotation marks – unless he is applying for a post to teach academic writing.  If CNN were not liberal, and Clarke not conservative, would CNN have bothered to dissect Clarke’s thesis?  (When Obama became President, many of his records, grades, and papers were removed from public scrutiny.  How would his work fare under critical testing?)

            Clarke should be judged as a lawman, as a sheriff who has inspired citizens to defend themselves, even arming themselves.  By contrast, our liberal mayor and police chief have pandered to mobs and sought to disarm law-abiding citizens, while excusing violent criminals.  Sheriff Clarke is a role-model for law-enforcement throughout the land.  The soft-on-crime crowd will use anything to discredit him, even smearing him with quotation marks.