Do All Black Lives Matter?

Do all black lives matter, according to the protestors? Or only some? Do white lives ever matter? Asking for a friend…which happens to be me. My life matters to me. Call me selfish if you want, but it’s true. Nobody wants to be a victim.

Though I’ve accepted the idea that I’m going to die one day, all things being equal, I’d rather not die today. Several decades from now, preferably in my sleep, would be my preference, but we don’t always get to choose when and how we die. I think it’s safe to say nobody would choose to die lying on a street with someone’s knee on their neck. With the possible exception of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and his three fellow officers on the scene, it would appear safe to say we can all agree that George Floyd’s life mattered. His life ended much too quickly and violently for an overwhelming majority of Americans. Most of us have seen the video; we’ve felt helpless outrage from seeing the life of a human being so perniciously ended by law enforcement for no justifiable reason. It was awful. Outrageous. Way beyond the pale.

It’s like Selma all over again, if you believe the movies (I’m not old enough to remember the news coverage of Selma.) It’s like looking at a picture of Emmett Till’s mutilated body and realizing that’s the butchered corpse of a child. If you could watch a video of George Floyd’s “arrest” and think what was happening was perfectly all right, I’m going to offend you by saying there is something really wrong with you. While it may be debatable whether or not the suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill merited an arrest (I think blacks would call it “white privilege” and acknowledge that being arrested would have surprised me) , especially when so many governors have been releasing prisoners during the COVID-19 crisis, not incarcerating new ones, there can be no argument about whether or not it was justified to kneel on the neck of a handcuffed man, lying on the ground.

It was not necessary. That sort of brutal treatment could never be justified. Handcuffs, no problem. I don’t even have a problem with ankle shackles, if deemed necessary. There is no reason to keep a suspect pinned to the ground for nine minutes after the suspect has stopped struggling, especially with three other officers there and available to assist if the suspect tried to take advantage of the officer letting go. I don’t know anyone who would argue with me against that. However, I’m afraid that not all of those rioting and looting would agree with me that the life of David Dorn mattered every bit as much as George Floyd’s. In fact, I’m quite certain the looter who shot and killed Mr. Dorn, a retired police captain from St. Louis, put less value on the man’s life than he did on a few hundred dollars’ worth of stolen possessions. But David Dorn’s life mattered, every bit as much as George Floyd’s. No less, and no more. Personally, I’m not a fan of the radical activist organization known as “Black Lives Matter” because they were created for the purpose of perpetuating a lie. They continue to divide our nation by promoting blatant lies and horribly exaggerating some truth. People who claim they support the movement don’t know what it’s really about. I’m also not a fan of willful ignorance. Anyone can find out the truth about the Black Lives Matter grassroots organization by visiting its About page.

Any doubts about the organizations’ radical ideology may be dispelled by clicking over to the home page, where the hashtag #DEFUND THE POLICE is prominently promoted. They claim to want justice, but they are trying to cause anarchy. Black Lives Matter was started because of the lie that George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin when, according to the law, he had acted in self-defense. A jury agreed with the existing law, in spite of false witnesses being allowed to offer testimony on the witness stand. What do the police do? They uphold the law. What happens if the police are defunded? We will rapidly degenerate into a lawless, dystopian society. BLM also fallaciously described Officer Darren Wilson’s self-defense slaying of Michael Brown as “murder”, but these were justifiable homicides according to the law. People without the legal right or ability to defend themselves will probably become murder victims. We can change the law if there is something wrong with it, but what we cannot do is ignore the existing law to administer justice as the mob sees fit.

Speaking of George Zimmerman, only a few days ago stories began to circulate on social media claiming that he’d been arrested in Atlanta for DUI and was currently being held in a local jail, and people began to suggest that someone in jail should murder him in retaliation for Martin’s death. How is that any different than lynching George Zimmerman? I thought the goal was to eradicate this sort of hatred and injustice, not to make a bad situation even worse.

These anarchists don’t care one whit about truth, justice, or protecting the innocent. They only care about violence, mayhem, and the destruction of property. Why so these people hate America so much? The only way anarchists can seize power is for no authority to exist that opposes them. I’ll start to believe that Black Lives Matter really and truly cares about black lives and not about fomenting hatred when they protest the obscene number of black children that have been aborted in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic. If you doubt Planned Parenthood is a fundamentally racist organization, simply learn about its founder, Margaret Sanger.

I would support BLM when, as this courageous black woman suggested, they protest blacks murdering other black people in Chicago. I would support them if they protested the death of David Dorn. But BLM are largely hypocrites, exploiting fear and anger for the purpose of wreaking havoc.

Police brutality is a real issue and a very serious problem, but it typically isn’t motivated by racism. It’s abuse of power that stems from having authority. Please don’t misunderstand. Even one death of an innocent civilian at the hands of an abusive law enforcement system is one too many.

According to statistics found at the Washington Post, in 2015 38 unarmed black men were killed by white police officers, when Barack Obama was president. By 2019, number had dropped to 9 unarmed blacks killed by a white police officer when Trump was POTUS. Simple logic suggests that low unemployment rates have more to do with a decrease in violent crime than the skin color of a sitting president. No one in their right mind would ever dare argue that George Floyd’s death wasn’t murder (except perhaps Chauvin’s defense attorney, of course.) Eric Garner’s life mattered. David Dorn’s life mattered. George Floyd’s life mattered. I reject any argument that Daniel Shaver’s life didn’t matter because he was white. 

Police officer Philip Brailsford killed Daniel Shaver. We can be sure that skin color wasn’t the determining factor, because both men were white. A bad guy ordained with the power of a police uniform is the real problem. Society as a whole isn’t helping, either. Even though the jury surely saw the same bodycam footage of Shaver’s shooting available at the above link, for some reason they voted to acquit him. In 2017, a white woman named Justine Damond was shot and killed by black Minneapolis police officer Mohammed Noor, who was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. While I’m mildly reticent about saying every situation in which a police officer kills an unarmed civilian should result in a criminal conviction, it’s difficult to understand why Noor is in prison, but Brailsford is not.

Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold on Eric Garner and either caused or contributed to his death, but a grand jury refused to indict the policeman.

If the actions of Brailsford or Pantaleo performed on duty and according to police procedure, the law or procedure must be changed. Every life matters.       

Even as I type these words, an ugly new scenario plays out in my imagination—police officers are trying to apprehend a suspect who is resisting arrest. The suspect suddenly claims to be unable to breathe. The police let go, and the bad guy pulls a gun and starts shooting. Police lives matter, too. Except to Black Lives Matter. Don’t expect them to protest the murder of David Dorn. Nor will they protest about the 303 black men murdered by other black men in Chicago over the past year. BLM only gets involved if the race card is put into play. Call me a cynic if you want, but I’m convinced it’s true. Call me any ugly names you want if it makes you feel better, but please stop throwing bricks and lighting fires. It’s safe to make me mad, because I’ll only hurl back more words in response. This will end, sooner or later, but more people could get shot in the meantime if tempers don’t cool down pretty soon.

Nobody else needs to die of unnatural causes. George Floyd is dead. Killing other innocent people doesn’t honor his memory. Bringing justice to those responsible for his death does. Bringing justice to David Dorn honors George Floyd, too. But not “vigilante” justice–it must be justice according to the law. This cannot continue to happen. Black people should have no more reason to be afraid of a police officer in uniform than white people.

At this point, I’m just about willing to consider just about any potential solution, no matter how crazy or outrageous it might sound on the surface. If police are afraid to do their job, society is at risk. If the police are completely abolished, we’re irrevocably screwed. Ever see one of those “Purge” movies, or “A Clockwork Orange”? Those are comedies, compared to what would really happen to society without even the pretense of law and order. The purge wouldn’t end after 24 hours. It wouldn’t end, period.

Herschel Walker, the greatest football player in Georgia Bulldog history, recently recorded a brief but powerful seven-minute video posted on Facebook. In the video Walker addresses our leaders currently watching idly as America burns and tells them in no uncertain terms to get off their butts, put a stop to the looting and violence, and restore law and order. He suggests the solution is to ensure swift, equal justice is applied in cases where racial tensions or controversies might be involved, referring specifically to the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in south Georgia where local authorities dragged their feet and initially refused to file any charges and George Floyd’s tragic death in Minnesota. He doesn’t offer suggestions on how to implement swift justice in racially tinged cases, but it does raise a fair question: what is the Civil Rights division of the Department of Justice doing? Why doesn’t resolving this sort of issue fall under their purview?  

The families of Eric Garner and George Floyd deserve the same sort of justice the family of Justine Damond got, and nothing less. Neither the skin color of the police officer nor the victim should ever play any role in whether and how justice is served. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, I look forward to the day when we stop judging people by the color of their skin, only judging the content of their character. Every American, even Derek Chauvin, has the right to a fair trial, no matter how damning the evidence against him. First and foremost, we are a nation of law and order. Without order, society will devolve into chaos.

Finally, David Dorn deserves justice, every bit as much as George Floyd — no matter the skin color of his murderer. Every life matters. There are no exceptions.