So here we are…again. A black man has been killed by a white cop. The video evidence seems damning and what seems to be a cop of the worst kind has been charged with murder. While as a rule we need to be wary of rushing to judgement based on a single video, it’s hard to image any extenuating circumstances in this case. Three more officers who apparently did nothing to stop it should face equally serious charges as well. Unjustified killing, plain & simple, regardless of what the victim may have done to warrant police attention in the first place. Meanwhile, sections of a major American city were predictably torched, stores looted, vehicles destroyed, a police station burned, and countless residents and business owners, along with the city’s fire and EMS personnel put in potentially deadly situations as a result of the mob’s actions. Just as predictably, video showed looters - masked not because of COVID-19, but to hide their faces from security cameras - gleefully exiting stores with whatever they could carry, ostensibly in the name of some sense of justice or revenge, but more likely opportunism and greed. There’s no way to justify what now former police officer Derek Chauvin did to George Floyd. None. When someone entrusted with the sacred duty of a cop betrays that trust, it does nothing less than kill off a piece of America. Legitimate law enforcement - along with free and verifiably honest elections - are among the most crucial lynchpins to the continued survival of our republic. I admittedly took those for granted growing up in suburbia, but I no longer do. Undermine those and we truly are on the verge of descending into an abyss from which we are unlikely to escape intact. However, there’s also no legitimate way to justify the burning and pillaging of Minneapolis in the process. It does nothing but cheapen and sully the legitimate concerns of many citizens there, black or otherwise. It also inarguably subjects so many people to life-threatening danger and other lasting hardships. What good purpose does that ultimately accomplish? None whatsoever. Law enforcement: We desperately need you to purge your ranks of prejudice and dishonesty wherever you may find it. Turning a blind eye or a deaf ear makes you an equally guilty accomplice. Out of necessity, you’re held to a higher standard. We all need your courage...your honesty...and your compassion. Desperately. Community leaders: We need your leadership. Fight however you are able to restrain the rioting and violence that serves no one but those who look for an opportunity to stoop to it. Even a man’s tragic murder doesn’t justify more evil. Let’s be crystal clear: Racism is a sin without moral justification. Anyone who espouses it from a shell of Christianity is a deluded liar. I pray for calm, reason and reform. I pray for justice...for all.
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Mark WebsterSome seriously whimsical and whimsically serious thoughts on this, that & the other thing... Archives
January 2021
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