I read with deep sadness the story about Undersheriff Andy Pernsteiner’s daughter. 

Deep sadness because I know Pernsteiner; I have had several encounters with him over the 15 years that myself and my family and I have lived in Port Townsend. The first time I met Andy was in Port Hadlock when he pulled me over for a broken headlight (which is his job). He was polite, professional, and very pleasant. He suggested I get the headlight fixed as soon as possible, bid me a good night, and that was the whole encounter.

In my second encounter with Pernsteiner, I called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for assistance with a person under the influence of drugs causing a scene near my home and my family. Pernsteiner came out with some other deputies, he actually literally apologized for this person’s behavior, and genuinely felt bad about what had transpired. He apologized to me, and said how sorry he was I had to deal with that, having been in the community for a very short time at that point. He assured me that, that was not the norm for this community, and he was right.

Again Pernsteiner was genuinely concerned, polite and professional; I cannot say enough about him. But I can say this, I don’t know what his daughter said, if she was just being a dumb kid or she was trying to be hurtful. I seriously doubt that, but I do know if she acted in a way that was negative or hurtful towards anyone, she did not learn it from her father. Pernsteiner is a good and decent man who in my opinion does not have a racist bone in his body. I think my opinion counts for much, as I am somewhat of an expert on the subject.

I read the comments by Sean Vinson saying, “As a black man in this community, I personally never want to be pulled over by Pernsteiner after seeing something like this.” 

Personally speaking for myself as a black man in this community, I cannot think of anyone I would rather be pulled over by than Pernsteiner. That has been my experience with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office as a whole, as well as the Port Townsend Police Department.

To the point of his confusion over whether or not he would be afraid to call the police and if they would help him if he did: I have never been victimized or mistreated in any way shape or form. In fact, I had an incident a few years ago in which I was the subject of racial harassment. This person was so loud and so egregious that I called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, they went and found the man and arrested him. Put him in handcuffs and took him to jail!

So those words ring hollow to me, and that shooting-from-the-hip style of rhetoric more often than not misses the mark than it is helpful or healing. Please do not make any mistake about it, I have been the victim of racism many many times, and I know full well what it looks like, what it feels like and sounds like. I could relate stories of being victimized in this community that would make a compassionate person weep. 

About that, I would say this to those people: in this community, our community, you are greatly outnumbered by people who will always “judge a person by the content of their character.”

What this sounds like to me is that, once again social media captured someone saying something they should not have been saying. In this case it’s a little girl just being reckless and thoughtless with her words. I will reiterate that any negative or bigoted views she might hold, if indeed she does hold them, she did not learn them from her father. If I had to guess and that’s what I’m left to do, I would guess it was just a young kid being reckless with her words. We have to recognize the difference and then act accordingly.

I would suggest to anyone who would seek to tear down a man’s career and life around his ears without ever knowing that man, that before you build walls, you start building bridges. Just for example, suggesting that Pernsteiner is not fit to be in the job he is doing!? So… what, you would see him dismissed? Let’s just say for the sake of argument, you are able to accomplish something as wrong as that. So now you’ve built a wall, a wall of people who know Andy, and know like me that he’s a good person who are now furious. That a good man has been pushed out of his job for no good reason. Where you once had a bridge to a group of great people, you now have a wall between certain people in the community and these and other law enforcement officers. As well as having law enforcement officers who are going to be quite often hesitant or uncertain how to do their job in certain circumstances.

I have literally walked across this great country many times, through the middle, through the Deep South, up and down both coasts and across the top through the Dakotas.

I met people from all walks and stations of life, and this I can tell you for certain: Most Americans do not want to hate anyone for any reason; they just want to work and raise their families and pray to whom they see fit, and be left alone to do all that. So when we lash out at one another over real or imagined slights or assaults, it just perpetuates negative results. “An eye for an eye leaves us all blind.”

As a county or as a nation, we rise or we fall together. We are as a nation, and indeed in communities all over the country, more divided now than any time that I can remember my lifetime.

Harsh rhetoric is not going to help bring us together; we need to talk to one another. I am left to wonder what that little girl would have thought if someone had taken the time to sit down over fries and a Coke and point out to her how hurtful her words could be and that they could be perceived in a way that would put her in a very negative light and put other people in a very defensive position. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll know the answer to that question, because somewhere today is a frightened and confused girl who is uncertain of what her future holds for her in her community.

So once again, I will say I am no stranger to racism -— quite the contrary and I know it happens all day every day to people of color. Having said that, I want to say one more time that, this is not an example of that, and anyone who wants to accuse Pernsteiner of being a bigot or racist, well, you just got it wrong this time.

(Dusty  Massie is a Port Townsend resident, married 25 years with three children. He traveled the United States and Canada extensively before settling in Port Townsend.)