There has been a lot of unrest the last few weeks and it has stirred some things inside of me that I need to get out.
The cases central to all this unrest are Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in NYC. Both of these situations had very drastic and devastating ends and my heart goes out to the families of these two men. My heart also goes out to the police officers and their families.
Without being there ourselves we can never know what actually happened. We must rely on "eye witness" accounts which are notoriously unreliable, just look at all the differences in each of the accounts that have been made public out of Ferguson. The human mind is a very powerful thing and, in trying to protect us, it can sometimes confuse us to the point that we really aren't certain what we saw anymore.
I can't speak to the motives of why the officers' encounters with these two men started. I haven't followed either case close enough to form an educated guess nor do I feel it is necessary for me to do so at this time. I have witnessed and therefore know that people of color (because it doesn't just apply to African Americans) are sometimes unduly persecuted by law enforcement. I have also witnessed and therefore know that people of color (and white people too) are persecuted by law enforcement for things they have actually done and sometimes react as if they are being unduly persecuted even though they are clearly in the wrong.
In my personal opinion, excessive force was tragically used in both cases. However, I do not believe, from what I have read, that the situations were purely racially motivated. Race may or may not have played a part in the events that unfolded. Maybe I'm naive to believe that the officers' intentions were good and somewhere along the way things got carried away and went too far, but that's what I believe.
One of the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, stood for nonviolence and he and his followers were able to move mountains. I'm not blind to the injustices and inequalities that still exist based on race, but I believe it is the duty of those of us who still believe in and strive for Dr. King's dream that we are mindful of how we work towards that dream to ensure that we are not inadvertently the cause of driving the wedge deeper.
I chose the title for this post from two different verses from the Bible: Psalms 46:10 and Mark 4:39. I invite you to go over to the Guided Christian Meditation site through the link below and truly reflect on how this applies to the current situation. Are you trying to have your voice heard or God's? Are you truly looking to spread His Word or are you looking for vengeance which the Bible clearly shows us belongs to the Lord? I urge you to seriously search your heart for these answers and if you feel Him leading you to protest or speak out in any way, please make sure you are moving forward in a manner that will bring glory to God and not shame.
http://guidedchristianmeditation.com/181/meditation/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god-the-meaning-of-be-still-will-surprise-you/
