Category : Blogs

Sub Category : World

I wanted to speak about the senseless killing that happened recently, another murder by a police officer on an African American youth, but I wanted to be patient with my views because it has swelled so large and has so many people burning, looting, and reacting violently to the injustice that to speak or react too quickly I, as so many are, may not express what is going on inside of me in the right way. It is becoming a common thing in our country and I don't want to ever get used to this. Where seeing another young man killed by the police and something in me no longer becomes outraged by it. Like, "Oh, so someone else got killed by the police..."

The officer had his knee in the back of this young mans neck, with all of his weight pressed down. The police man, for whatever reason, did not continue normally and secure him with handcuffs, as is usual, to remedy the necessity of his use of force even though several times the youth told the officer he couldn't breathe. The police never let up on the pressure against the back of the young man's neck, and he died. 

I wouldn't presume to know all the details, or everything involved leading up to the reason the officer felt it necessary to wrestle the guy to the ground and pinning him to the ground with his knee, or what fear prevented him from letting the man up once it became clear he was no longer a threat. I can't speak on that. What troubles me about this is our reaction, as a nation, to injustice.

It is no surprise that we react with violence. When you mix entertainment with violence... but that is another topic I won't even get started on. We become desensitized to violence is my point. When we see it so often, have it visited upon us so regularly, it soon becomes a normal for us. It becomes less and less of a shock and soon becomes an acceptable standard of our morality.

I went fishing yesterday to just back up from everything. For months we have been dealing with the pressure and uncertainty of the Covid19, and now with the entire nation rising up against another senseless murder by the police, I wanted to just back up and collect myself. 

African lives matter, Malaysian lives matter, every aspect of every life matters, and until we correct our own hearts morally and individually, we can never come together as a group to make any significant difference as a people.

Destroying the businesses in our community won't correct the issue, setting fires and hurting other people won't make our law enforcement bend or give in. Reacting with violence will only force others to react with violence to either defend themselves, or react to maintain control.

My deepest prayer is for everyone to express their outrage, but peacefully, and in a way that will not destroy or terrorize. Speak out, protest, lift up your voice, and be careful.