I’ve sat back and I’ve watched things unfold across this country over the last month or two. First a black man out for a run getting gunned down because he “looked” suspicious. Then a black man asking a woman to put her dog on the leash, which she is legally obligated to do- called the police saying she’s afraid she’s going to be murdered. And then a man is killed by police officers who no one could say were preforming their job appropriately by keeping a knee in his neck so he couldn’t breathe.
And then there were riots.
All of us I think, should put ourselves in the shoes of the friends and family of these men for a minute. If your son was out running and someone decided to shoot and kill him because they didn’t like the way he looked, how would you feel? How would you feel if someone trapped your son so he couldn’t breathe and killed him while he begged for his mother and was unable to breathe?
I’m pretty sure I’d want to riot too.
Especially as these things keep happening over and over and over again. Black men being killed for no reason other than being black.
I’ve heard people say that the Black Community needs to protest peacefully. That the riots are harming the communities.
They ARE destroying the communities- though I have seen plenty of pictures of very white people creating the damage as well. But here’s the thing, they have tried protesting peacefully. Remember Collin Kaepernick? I do. I remember writing a blog post about his kneeling on the football field and how I disagreed with this. People were FURIOUS over his disrespect of the American flag. But he WAS protesting peacefully and we didn’t like it any better than the riots.
So what should our black brothers and sisters do when their hearts and souls are breaking? How should they get us to pay attention so we will finally listen?
George Floyd’s death was a turning point for me. As the wife of a federal officer, I often see a different side of things. I know the amount of training that these officers go through. I know how much they want to make the right decision in those split seconds where your life, and theirs can hang in the balance. But those four officers with George Floyd? They weren’t using their training. There is no training that tells you to subdue a subject that is already handcuffed by putting your knee on someone’s neck until they are dead. That was pure meanness and hatred. There is no other explanation.
I can’t pretend to know what the answers for moving forward are. But a door has opened wide for all of us. It is time for us to take a good hard look at ourselves and take a step through that door. A door to a place where we truly live the words that we have been taught. The teachings that God loves everyone. That there is no difference in his love for anyone based on their skin color or anything else. He just loves us all because we are his children, and treats us all equally. And so should we.
