WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

I am a supporter of the police. They are the difference between us and mayhem, peace and upheaval, safety and anarchy, life, or death. They deserve to be paid well their families should get assistance to full medical and educational opportunities for their children and themselves. I hope to God nothing happens to any of them, that they retire in comfort and safety.

George Floyd’s death in police custody sparked more than 400 protests, rallies and vigils across the country. George Floyd’s untimely, unfortunate death though, must be acknowledged and understood in human terms. No matter what the man did short of murder, should not have been killed, he should not be dead today. The four policemen that did this must be held accountable for their actions in abetting and committing the crime of murder.

But there is this: the police are humans and can be guilty as an ordinary citizen can for the crimes they commit, and under pressure, fear and stress, resort to actions that are illegal and therefore should be tried for their crimes. This does not mean the police, as a whole is guilty. If an accountant is fraudulent, are all accountants fraudulent?

Have we noticed the police who support the peaceful demonstrators, marching, and kneeling in prayer alongside the protestors? Their humanity becomes apparent, they empathy obvious, are we acknowledging it?

It is good that the protest is taking place, the peaceful ones, and should continue in a traditional way to gain the eyes of those they and that with which they protest, it is part of peaceful change, it makes for compromise and examination of facts and frees our brains of bias, it is the formula for success.

If we are to avoid this tragedy in the future, we need to examine how the police are trained, how to properly prepare them for stress, their fears, and how to temper reactions as peacekeepers first. They must follow (which by and large they do) ‘Equal Justice for All under the Law). Most importantly, we must protect the citizenry and police, equally.