Happy Friday …
Unless you were killed in front of your girlfriend and her daughter for complying with an officer’s request …. Or unless you were shot in the head a few times while lying face down on the ground with some frightened and hostile people dressed as “police officers” holding you down!! I know, I know I am approaching some “troubled waters” ahead with this topic. Yet, before I go any further, and this is why I love this guy, I would say what the POTUS Obama said Thursday when he landed in Poland after hearing of the two police involved shootings here in the States … but I am not that talented a speaker nor do I have a fantastic speech writer who might help me with “rough spots in my thoughts that I want to express verbally”. So, I agree with him as far as this subject goes and his words as he sought to express his feelings on these killings in Minnesota and Baton Rouge … eerily similar and so close together time wise!
Were these shootings/murders justified? We just had a few race related police involved deaths of African (Moorish, a la James Bailey) men … mostly men … but there was a young lady who hung herself (purportedly) to end the drama that the officer there in Texas inflicted upon her during a routine traffic stop. There is “fear” all around this social problem. There may be fear going into the African American “community” in this country but it seems to be a fear that is slowly turning into anger as a result of these “public assaults”. And I am sure we all know of the group(s) of folks who are in groups preparing for “the end of the world” … storing up food and alternate shelters as well as weapons and ammunition for an extended period of time! Scary yet?!?
Of late, like last night in Dallas, vigilante anti-police shooters took aim at any police officers in sight! From the news snippets, it appears that 5 officers are pronounced dead. This, in many ways, is what it comes down to when fear, hatred and anger are mixed together, whether amongst civilians or law enforcement officers! Shall we call it “mayhem in the streets”? Very simply put, guns are taking center stage in the news here of late, perhaps over the past 5 – 10 years. Do we have any solutions for these type of occurrences? Could we use a little more love and peace … rather than spreading fear, anger and hatred … which very often erupt in violence? We have a lot of work today … here in “America” … the land of the free, the home of the brave …
Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 