Well, for those of you who were unfamiliar with Ernie Chambers, late last week should have served as a useful introduction.

“LEGISLATOR COMPARES COPS TO ISIS,” headlines roared; “LEGISLATOR SAYS HE WOULD SHOOT COPS FIRST AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER!” soon followed. Ah, the irrepressible 77 year old, bearded sweatshirt-wearing barber from North Omaha, the longest-serving (40 years!), and AHEM, ONLY African-American state senator—I am going to repeat that, for effect: the ONLY African-American state legislator to serve in our Unicameral, ever, made national news again.

You know, he made national news that one time when he SUED GOD, not because he hates God necessarily, but because he wanted to expose the ease with which one could file frivolous suits in Nebraska, and well, he did successfully put a case on our state court docket, against the Big Guy, illuminating all the horrors God has visited upon man—wars, plagues, persecution, genocide. Ah, point well taken, sir.

And now this. On a sleepy afternoon in the Nebraska Unicam (I mean, aren’t they ALL sleepy?), a bill was being considered, I’m told, to extend conceal/carry rights to taverns. I mean, what could go wrong? (I would conjecture a shot in the abdomen over that last pickled egg, but let’s proceed). A state senator in favor of the legislation was explaining the need for the bill, that people generally feel insecure and want their weapons close at all times, due to mass shootings and ISIS and the like.

Here comes Ernie. He takes to the microphone and argues no, if you gave HIM the right to conceal and carry (which by the way he opposes), he wouldn’t travel to Afghanistan or Yemen in search of ISIS, no, he’d be in North Omaha. And to him, in North Omaha, the “ISIS” has been, historically, the police, who have “terrorized” the local population, trained to shoot first and ask questions later.

Heck, Ernie said, if I were made to “conceal and carry” (which by the way, he opposes), he would be compelled to shoot the police first and ask questions later—as they are trained to do.

Hence, the national headlines, and the predictable national outcry. No one wants to advocate for violence against the police, and to compare the police to our most feared enemy who beheads innocents—well wait, that’s oh-so Ernie. Before you rush to condemn him, like the gajillion people I saw on Facebook last week (many called him a “racist thug;” I saw one meme where a father was kicking a pregnant woman in the gut suggesting Ernie’s mom should have asked for this), consider this: first, his tactics are not original.

He borrows directly from the techniques of Malcolm X, who observing 300 years of race-based economic, social and physical violence against blacks in this country, urged blacks to segregate, build economic self-sufficiency, and defend themselves—“by any means necessary” against the historically murderous whites.

That meant, if ANYONE threatens you or your family, whether it be some punk, or business owner or gun-pulling law enforcement type, they had been the instrument of oppression against non-whites for three centuries.

Defend yourself, aggressively—that is the rhetorical tradition from which Chambers borrows. It is not new, it is not original, but it still shocks, by design. He craves the attention he gets, to stall legislation or promote other valued causes.

Can I condemn him?

Well, no, I’m a white guy who was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’m still white, but age seems to be turning me into colors and shapes I didn’t anticipate. But I do know I am not going to question his acting on his experience: I did not have it.

And, I am NOT going to question the value of someone pushing for principle, even principles with which I disagree, in this free country.

We become stronger each time convention is challenged.

Everyone should know that.