2016 was a year filled with chaos but it also brought a lot of things to light.

[READ: Attorney Who Blamed ‘BlackLivesMatter’ For Wife’s Death Charged in her Shooting… ]

While America still reels over several police related deaths, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is on a mission to increase the peace by begging the world’s largest retailer to cease and desist the sales of ‘BlackLivesMatter’ apparel.

Details below…

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the largest police union in the United States, recently published an open letter to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos calling for the online retailer to remove any and all apparel and related products associated with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and its messaging.

Letter from National President Canterbury to Walmart President and CEO regarding third party sellers of BLM gear on the company website. pic.twitter.com/BLu1Eb0iND

— FOP Legislative (@FOPLegislative) December 20, 2016

The letter, which was tweeted from the organization’s official twitter account specifically points to gear that includes the phrases “Black Lives Matter,” “Bulletproof,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” as ones that should be pulled from Amazon’s virtual shelves.

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, even refers to the apparel as ‘offensive’ and in the public letter to Amazon, stating:

Because I believe you share the FOP’s goal of increasing the bonds of trust between the men and women of law enforcement and the communities they serve, I wanted to let you know that my members are very upset that you and Amazon are complicit in the sale of this offensive merchandise.

I understand that these are third party sales, but Amazon does have the ability to prohibit the sale of products which are offensive to the public and which may damage your company’s good name amongst FOP members and other active and retired law enforcement officers.

The request comes just a week after discount giant Walmart chose to remove Black Lives Matter-associated merchandise after receiving a similar letter from the FOP.

Walmart had previously sold the “Bulletproof” and “Black Lives Matter” apparel through their website by third-party vendors.

Meanwhile, while the FOP are on a quest to remove t-shirts and apparel bearing the ‘BlackLivesMatter’ statement, statistics still prove that people of color are still more likely to incur use of force by an officer.

According to The Economist, Roland Fryer, a Harvard economist, found that black people were 17.3 percent more likely to incur use of force by police after controlling for characteristics like age and circumstances of the encounter (such as running away or trying to assault an officer). Fryer also found that black people were 21.1 percent more likely than whites to have force used against them, even in instances where police described them as being perfectly compliant with police instructions.

That being said, it doesn’t really matter if Amazon or Walmart sells the t-shirts, because the facts still remain the same.

#BlackLivesMatter!

What are your thoughts on the FOP’s request to cease & desist the retail sales of ‘BlackLivesMatter’ related merchandise?