We are all Hurting, Reflecting, and Venting

Like many of my friends, and family members, I want to have my say about recent events. It is not because I feel that what I have to say is especially important. Actually, I feel that my words are echoes of the thousands of people across the country who were horrified by the events of this past weekend and I am repeating the sentiment that is already reverberating throughout the country. The sad reality is, this is a lamentation that is on repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Fix-ish, forget, repeat. When does it end? I began the piece below on Sunday, May 31st. I have put it down and picked it back up, edited it, tweaked it, second guessed it and finally, I threw my hands up and said “eff it!”, I will publish it regardless.

If I strike a nerve, I can’t apologize for my thoughts and feelings. None of this is meant to be malicious. I’d love to talk to you if you have a difference of opinion. Maybe you can teach me something through your perspective and experiences that I would not be able to learn on my own. I am open to dialogue; I am not receptive of attacks, but learning (and healing) together, that is something I love to do.

Also, if you are looking for ways to help those who are protesting because you cannot do so, here is a link to one organization I trust from my home state of Arkansas. The Arkansas Freedom Fund. They are providing funds for bail, council and support for activist, organizations, and protesters in Arkansas.

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Tell Them to Go Home!

What is the end goal? This is what I ask myself as I listen to, read, and hear from others the news around the country concerning the protests, looting, and violence claimed to be in support of justice for Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Mr. George Floyd, the most recent Black man not given due process to determine his guilt or innocence for an alleged crime, and killed by law enforcement officers in the street. As Americans, all Americans, whether by birth or through naturalization, we have the right to due process, as written in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

I understand anger, sadness, and a restlessness to do something, but violence and vandalism? Why is this the answer? To those peacefully protesting, I respect your choice, but the bad actors; the one’s who are busing themselves into cities to which they don’t belong, that didn’t raise them, that didn’t teach them, you all need to go back home.

The burnt down, broken into, and thoroughly stripped small businesses that communities depend on; the terrorized neighborhoods; the beaten and detained; the feared and the fearful. What is it all for? It is all too convenient to put the names of the famously slain on signs, t-shirts, and murals and run a-muck in someone else’s hometown. It is too easy to allow anger to push one out into the streets for weeks and stir up mayhem. In the national media, I see news stories that glaze over facts and land on the juiciness of controversy and rancorous behavior rather than reporting fair and accurate stories from the field. Protest go from being public outcry to sexy money maker and the people at home don’t even realize that they are being seduced.

While it is true that to make things new, a tearing down of old things must take place, it should not be a destruction that kills hope and further depletes already strained resources. My people, we are living in the shadow of a global pandemic and a looming economic depression. Our anger, sadness, and fear for the future are all justified, but this is not the way to go about making systemic changes in our government, in our judicial system, or in our country. What has been done, in the name of a man, and other men and women whom many of us did not know intimately, only justifies the way that the president and his supporters see our communities. It only justifies further judicial scrutiny of our communities. It only justifies the continued lack of resources coming into our communities. Should we be proud of the destruction wrought?

I began writing this post Sunday, May 31^st. Sunday, I asked, “Is this all victorious action? CAN YOU TELL ME ONE POSITIVE OUTCOME FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEKEND?” Until today, the protests seemed pointless to me. They were unwitting targets for more brutality and ill-will from those who do not understand why BLACK LIVES MATTER. Further, they were magnets for people who just wanted a reason to tear stuff up. Today, I have seen fruit in some places. I have seen the news cover less juicy and more hopeful footage of the front lines of protests. I have seen Flint, Michigan Sheriff Chris Swanson put down his weapon and gear and walk with protesters. I have seen White women in Kentucky band together to protect protesters, and Black men band together to protect a solitary White police officer, who was separated from his unit. I’ve seen National Guard Troops lay down their riot gear in Tennessee and Washington D.C. to allow peaceful protest to continue without the agitation of military authority looming over protesters. I have read the heartfelt plea of a self-proclaimed, privileged Chinese-American man asking for his community to get off the sidelines and take notice of the injustices that afflict Black people in this country and help with funds, voices, and advocacy.  On Sunday, when I began to write I stated, “…if there is light and God in those actions, I need to be directed to them for peace of mind for my children….” I have some peace now, but I am far from comfortable. I can’t be comfortable because a man was murdered on a street near my sister’s house Sunday night. I can’t be comfortable because of headlines like “New York Police Are Attacking Protesters — They Know They Won’t Face Consequences” and “Police brutality prompted the protests. In some cities, the police response only proved the protesters’ point.” I can’t be comfortable until racial profiling and stereotyping is no longer an issue; every citizen, no matter how rich or poor, is granted due process of the law; and crime in low income neighborhoods is unnecessary because we have a more equitable society that doesn’t punish people for trying to survive. I cannot be comfortable until I know that my nephews, brothers, son, friend’s sons, and the sons of parents of Black boys in America can rest easy if their babies are out late at night being young and dumb, the way that young people are sometimes young and dumb. I can’t rest easy until “the talk” is only about sex and not about how to stay alive.

         To the protesters. I am not among you. I have my excuses and my reasons (yes I admit to the first). To be honest, I need to know, what is your end-game? If it is to change hearts and minds of police officers and guardsmen, I believe you are succeeding in some places and I support that. If it to raise awareness, you are succeeding and I support that as well. However, I don’t support the agitators, looters, and violent people who are causing divisiveness, scaring people (in many cases their own people) and getting others killed. Clean up your ranks. Weed out the bad seeds and send them home. They are taking away from the beauty of your moment and the movement. Furthermore, don’t forget about the people who were slain but did not make the news. They mattered too. Share your end game with the rest of us. What is the next step? NO JUSTICE NO PEACE is a slogan, it is not actionable, sustainable change. That is what we need. Change. Let’s do something that makes another protest unnecessary because action is taking the place of reaction.

    Finally, stay safe. COVID-19 cases are spiking everywhere including the military base I live on, which proves no one is safe. The safest thing for anyone to do is stay at home. Marching in the street, in the heat, touching and hugging, all of this is dangerous. Protect yourselves and your loved ones if you must be out there, but keep in mind that bad cops aren’t the only ones out here killing Black people unjustly.

To the true peacekeepers, remember your oath and what you are meant to stand for. Be above bar and show kindness to those who are hurting. Look to the examples of peace and empathy shown by others and reflect that when you go out to do your job. You are valuable, but you are vulnerable too. Protect yourself and act wisely. Don’t think of the people as protesters. Think of them as your neighbors, your friends, your family, the clerk from your local grocery store, and the pastor of the local church. If you can’t, then use this time together to get to know them so that, God forbid there is a next time, you can. Furthermore, HOLD YOUR PEERS ACCOUNTABLE. Stop standing by and start speaking up. Those bad cops are making you look like a monster and by being quiet, you are basically owning that title. Do better.

With the Agape Love of Christ, I thank you for listening/reading and pray you are safe and loved.