Posted on 07/09/2016 5:49:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
After the fatal police shooting of two more black men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week, headlines blared, “Black Lives Matter!” Now, after the fatal sniper shooting of 5 police officers and the wounding of 6 others, headlines blare, “Blue Lives Matter!”
As Americans, we must come together and declare that All Lives Matter, regardless of color, ethnicity, or social status. Every life is precious in God’s sight and must therefore be precious in our sight as well.
Together, we must condemn all acts of cold-blooded murder.
If a police officer with malice and aforethought kills someone with no possible just cause, he or she must be found guilty of murder, regardless of his badge and uniform. And when it comes to the sniper killings in Dallas, no civil-minded person can possibly condone the targeted, intentional, planned murder of other human beings, no matter what animosity they hold towards officers of the law.
We must also commit to listen to all sides of the current controversy, determining that this is not the time to seek a political advantage. This is the time for justice, and justice requires that we carefully weigh all the relevant evidence and that we ask the difficult questions.
Is it true that black males are discriminated against in the courts and are unfairly targeted by police? Is there still systemic racism in America, as many have argued?
Conversely, is there hypocrisy in the Black Lives Matter movement, as prominent black athlete Ray Lewis has argued, since the vast majority of black deaths are at the hands of other blacks?
Is it true that some police officers are trigger-happy, especially when dealing with blacks? Or do these officers have just cause to fear for their lives?
What about the charge that there is only concern when there is white on black violence as opposed to black on white violence? Is there any truth to this?
And what about each of us? Do we respond publicly only when someone of our own skin color (or ethnicity or religion or affiliation) suffers an apparent injustice, or do we respond equally to all apparent injustices, whoever the victims might be? What biases lurk within our own souls?
For the most part, in the midst of the agony and the bloodshed and the political and racial divides over these killings, all too little constructive conversations take place. The emotions run too high, and understandably so.
But until we can learn to listen to each other and not just to talk to each (or past each other) I fear the divide will only grow deeper.
Speaking for myself, I have never been racially profiled, but I have learned much from black callers to my radio show who have shared their own difficult experiences, helping me to gain a much fuller perspective.
I have also learned much from police officers who have shared their own perspective with my listeners, filling in another part of the story.
There really are two sides to many stories, and before coming to firm conclusions, we need to hear all sides out. Are we willing? Do we really have a choice? And will we make any true progress if we speak only in broad, rhetorically-barbed terms?
There is now a terribly disturbing video from the Minnesota shooting, as a black female passenger sits in a car next to her dying boyfriend, just shot by the police after being pulled over for a broken tail light.
Putting aside the unique, social-media nature of the video – why is the woman almost calmly narrating what is happening as her boyfriend bleeds to death next to her, groaning out loud? – she tells us that her boyfriend informed the officer that he had a licensed weapon and he was reaching for his ID in his back pocket when he was shot.
Did the officer simply ask this man to produce his license and registration, shooting him four times in cold blood when he sought to comply with the police directive?
If so, why does the officer scream out (with great emotion), “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand off it!”
Hopefully, the truth will come out about this shooting, as well as about the shooting in Louisiana, and hopefully justice will be served (although the dead cannot be brought back to life, regardless of the verdicts).
But we must do everything in our power not to capitulate to anger or to fear, not to allow racial (or class) tensions to escalate, not to combat perceived violence with intentional violence, and not to turn this week’s tragedies into a political football. Otherwise there will be a river of blood flowing across this nation.
Those of us who are leaders in the Church must set the example, having the difficult conversations, challenging one another’s perspectives, calling on the mercy of the Lord, and being God’s prophetic voices in a fallen society as well as His agents of redemption and reconciliation.
Right now, America needs our help.
No lives matter to a criminal, collectivist, socialist, totalitarian. Witness history. Witness current events. Witness daily events.
No they don’t. POS Thug Black lives do not matter one iota to me....
Excellent question. They sure need to be.
For now that is, for now.
It is time to stand up and ALL LIVES MATTER!
Except for the unborn. In the US they don’t count, especially black babies.
The lives that matter the most are mine and my loved ones.
ANYONE of any color trys to infringing on that, they got trouble coming.
Townhall had only peripheral involvement. It’s a site where people discuss the news, not make it.
BLM is now the bate used for an ambush
Kaslin,
Was it Ray Lewis that was on Fox Kelly File last night?
There was a prominent football player on, who said in the interview (paraphrasing) that people needed to have their lives changed by accepting Jesus as Savior.
That IMHO is the answer; transformed hearts and minds, that will be a guard against evil.
About the guy in the car in Minnesota......I have read he was a convicted felon. I have read he didn’t have a permit for his gun. I have read that he wasn’t stopped for a broken taillight. I have read that he was actually the woman’s drug dealer. I have read that he was stopped for questioning because he looked like the suspect in an armed robbery, in the same vicinity, a few days earlier. Now, I am not clear if this is the truth or there is other information that we don’t know. But what I have read fits the situation far better than the woman claiming they were stopped for a broken taillight, etc, when both taillights were working. Hope we get hard facts sometime.....I think the real facts are more likely to slip down the rabbithole as they don’t fit the BLM meme.
the girl friend always lies...... always
that’s her job
If a police officer with malice and aforethought kills someone with no possible just cause, he or she must be found guilty of murder, regardless of his badge and uniform.
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It’s all about the rule of law,,, and we haven’t had that for at least 30 years,,, sure the Muslim agitator in chief fanned the flames but the police need to change ,, real accountability for one thing , no more internal reviews that whitewash their crimes. No tacit encouragement of testilying at all levels, No steroid pumped boys acting out ninja fantasies in black pajamas at 2am breaking down doors based on a paid crackheads opinion and nothing else. The entire alphabet soup of federal agencies that bow and scrape to wall streets interests and crush everyone else... It’s got to go.
Unclear on whether or not she was actually his girlfriend. She is so dispassionate during her phone video, it sounds like she is not involved in actually caring about him. That’s why I find the drug dealer angle convincing.
Sorry, I do not agree. Lives of brutal killers, child molesters, traitors to country, and terrorists who murder innocent civilians DO NOT MATTER to me.
Despite making up just 13% of the population, blacks commit around half of homicides in the United States. Many blacks are raised to just naturally hate whites.
It is not too hard to see why a cop might panic and shoot if a black disobeys an order and makes a move like to his pockets. Sad, but true.
BLM has made it abundantly clear that no one else’s lives matter. Period, full stop.
Anything they say publicly contradicts what they say on their social media or in private meetings.
It is a racist organization, advocates and celebrates the killing of police officers.
As it turns out, these two were NOT the sweet and innocent victims of a racist police shooting- One was reaching for his gun WHILE he was being apprehended by two officers. What do his supporters think would have happened if he had gotten hold of it? would we have seen video plastered all over TV of him killing two cops? (someone was conveniently recording it)
And in the other case- we see video AFTER he was shot, dying in the car- we only have what SHE says happened before the shooting, and the guy matches a suspect in an armed robbery that had just happened.
If I remember correctly Michael Brown was said to have been surrendering with his hands up when he was executed by an officer- leading to "hands up, don't shoot" mass protests and burning and looting. Then it turned out he had already assaulted and tried to grab the gun away from the officer once, and was charging him again.
I am getting so sick of The Enemedia whipping up hatred to sell news. They MANUFACTURE riots this way, so they can have even more news. They are not a calming influence, they are inciting incidents.They are going to start race riots.
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