Is. 59:14
Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.
Fear, Ignorance, Racial Profiling. These are three terms that I’ve heard that may have been factors in the recent shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile in Minnesota. Here are my “premature” but “sincere” thoughts on the matter. My heart pains me at the grief that these events have caused the family and friends of the victims and this nation. Also, I pen this lengthy post in memory of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, and many others, all of which were victims of the above-stated fear, ignorance, and racial profiling.
Here are these three terms by definition:
Fear: a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats.
Ignorance: lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned:
Racial profiling: the act of suspecting or targeting a person of a certain race based on a stereotype about their race. Racial profiling occurs whenever police routinely use race as a factor that, along with an accumulation of other factors, causes an officer to react with suspicion and take action.
Did the officers fear for their lives? As in many of these cases as of late, the fear involved is not what law enforcement feels. It’s the fear felt by the victim from law enforcement’s unexpected and unsolicited aggressive actions and speech towards them. The victims are generally unarmed and ambushed. In fear, they go into defense mode and are killed based on their natural responses to the threat and fear that they feel at the hands of police officers. Resisting arrest is then often misconstrued and is really a natural result of the fear felt by the victim. The resistance is an attempt to protect one’s self from the legitimate threat of law enforcement.
Secondly, ignorance should never be an excuse for law enforcement being negligent in the death of a human being while performing their sworn duties to protect and defend. What part of “protect and defend” or “protect and serve” is not understood? Lack of knowledge or lack of training should mean only one thing, a person does not get a badge nor work on anyone’s police force until the ignorance to the law is dispelled.
My friends there was no fear here on the cops part. No physical or emotional threats on their person. (At least that we can see.) By the way, you can see and hear plenty of fear in the hearts of the victims and bystanders/witnesses. Going back to Rodney King. What about Ignorance?
Dr. Martin Luther King said this: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
In other words not knowing any better and knowing better and doing it anyway ends up with the same negative results and consequences.
Fear may be a factor, ignorance may be a factor but there is also one more thing that I’ve heard local media, national media, and presidential candidates speak of. It’s called racial profiling. I’ve just spent about 4 hours researching the reality and the effect that racial profiling is having on our nation. I’ll let you be the judge. From the pages of Wikipedia and the research of the dreaded ACLU for all to see and read. Take a read:
Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era.” It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement and private security target people of color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Racial profiling is patently illegal, violating the U.S. Constitution’s core promises of equal protection under the law to all and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. Just as importantly, racial profiling is ineffective. It alienates communities from law enforcement, hinders community policing efforts, and causes law enforcement to lose credibility and trust among the people they are sworn to protect and serve.
I myself have been a victim of the fear, ignorance and racial profiling of law enforcement both black and white. We should pray for the families of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, and many others who have lost their loved ones to some sort of controversial injustice.
But we must do something concerning the continued problem of the fear, ignorance and racial profiling that plagues our cities and nation. It is a sign of the times. Our entire nation is in need of an overhaul. God is not pleased and the prophets of God have got to stop preaching for dollars and the true prophets of God have got to start speaking truth to power and comfort the people.
Is. 59:14
Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.
America Repent. Put God back in the courts, the classrooms and in the White House.
Ps. 9:17
The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.
We shouldn’t burn our streets, start a race war, and turn on all those that are charged to protect us. March if you must, protest if you must, join a cause if you must. But if you are a child of God, seek God first. Ask God for wisdom, ask God to intervene. Prayer still works and yes faith without works is dead. Pray and do something.
“If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.”
Eldridge Cleaver
—Vaughn McLaughlin
thank you dad