It’s bizarre!
An Atlanta gym owner was busted posting a sign outside his facility saying that members of the military and American police “are explicitly not welcome” at his place of business because “they serve capitalism and they serve white supremacy.” Immediately — and perhaps predictably — this generated a storm of controversy (even before the recent tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia), as Fox News discussed with military analyst Sgt. Johnny Joey Jones, a retired Marine Corps bomb technician who lost his legs in a wartime bomb blast in Afghanistan.
Jones points out that while freedom of speech is a right in this country, the exclusion of members of the community who have nobly pledged to serve it is counterproductive at best, and the perpetuation of stereotypes at worst. Clearly, the gym owner in question here (who reports have identified as Jim Chambers, a self-confessed “leftist radical”) has a few screws loose that likely have less to do with his feelings about law enforcement and perhaps more to do with his upbringing and/or events that befell him in the past.
Kudos to Jones for standing up for our brave men and women in uniform who incidentally are freely able to choose whatever fitness venue they want to use, negating poorly thought-out hatred and nonsense like this.
Watch as Jones delivers a strong message to the gym owner, who by now has been so embarrassed by all the media attention he’s gotten that he’s taken down his crude, hand-scrawled sandwich board.
