Mike Parson Basically Confirms He Doesn't Care About Black People

     Mike Parson, to begin with, has no soul. Hell, who can blame him? I would be upset if I were a man given the middle name "Lynn," too. The fact that he grew up to look like Lou Dobbs' brain-damaged older brother probably didn't help. Still, the way he decided to compensate for his lackluster, well, everything, is indefensible.

     Just the other day, Mike Parson pardoned the McCloskeys, a gun-toting (and poorly, I might add) couple that threatened Black Lives Matter protesters walking past their home and pleaded guilty to criminal assault charges. Aside from the fact that they pleaded guilty, accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt. Conveniently, or perhaps not, as Republicans turned the couple into virtual martyrs when they spoke at the 2020 RNC, Mr. McCloskey is running for Senate in 2022. I guess women still aren't allowed to do certain things in Missouri. Martyrs? They live in a mansion, dress like the uppity teens at a prep school, and served no time in jail; I think they and their guns will be fine.

     Still, Parson refuses to pardon Kevin Strickland. As a minor, he was convicted of theft. A white judge and a white prosecutor decided that a black teenager was beyond rehabilitation and sentenced him to a virtual term of life imprisonment. Nearly 45 years later, he's still behind bars. He's a model inmate who has worked to influence the lives of those around him for the better. I guess they got it wrong when they decided it would be easier to give up on him, and even the prosecutor realizes that: she wants him released. It gets better: Parson tried to claim pardons weren't a priority for him and that he was awaiting a legislative approach to what he could do himself. I guess that excuse just went right out the window.

     COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy both disproportionately affect black and brown Americans with fewer available medical resources and a history of vaccines literally being used to sterilize and test on people based on their race. Mike Parson doesn't care. He knew reopening schools would kill kids. His response? "They'll get over it." Meanwhile, Missouri is the state most affected by the recent coronavirus surge in comparison to its population.

     Now, he doesn't care that Kevin Strickland, among numerous other black men harshly sentenced for minor crimes at a young age, may die in prison. Would we expect anything different? Mike Parson is a sociopath and, now, it is apparent, a racist.