Unless you are a law enforcement officer, a politician, or a commentator, there is little to debate.
George Floyd was killed in confrontation with Minneapolis Police while he was handcuffed and restrained. Police say that he resisted arrest, and it is hard to believe they would have taken action had he not, but regardless of that, resisting arrest is not a capital offense, and certainly not while on the ground, handcuffed, and restrained by multiple officers. Safe to say, his death was unwarranted. A fair trial is still in order. He should not have died, and that part is undebatable.
Then comes the burning, the breaking, and the looting. What can be said about this that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, hasn’t already said. In her tweet last week, Ms. Omar said “Shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at unarmed protesters when there are children present should never be tolerated. Ever. What is happening tonight in our city is shameful.” Of course, the shameful conduct the Congresswoman is referring to is that of the police attempting to stop what Ms. Omar considers the perfectly legitimate and warranted conduct of those the main stream media and the liberals have termed “the protesters.” Some have referred to her type of justification as “romanticizing the rioting” or “moral licensing.” How is their protest being conducted? By breaking into a Target store and robbing it blind-empty, by burning down multiple buildings, by destroying government vehicles, and by utilizing whatever tools and force are necessary to break into cash registers, and just in general have a “law holiday.” This is a freak show, regardless of how others wish to frame it, and that is undebatable.
What if I were in Minneapolis? I wouldn’t be burning, breaking, or looting, I wouldn’t be down there amidst the mayhem, and I sure as rubber bullets wouldn’t have my kids there, putting them in harm’s way. When George Floyd lost his life, it was not a winning lottery ticket for a people long abused or an opportunity to retrieve some of the benefits lost in our shameful past history of racial oppression. It is undebatable that politicians should not be enabling lawlessness. If these are bad cops, or stupid cops, or some combination of the two cops, let’s get them to court and prosecute them to the full extent of the law, but let’s not be bad and stupid leaders in return. It seems like these leaders, much like some of the Jim Crow leaders of days hopefully gone by, just can’t help themselves. And that is becoming less and less debatable.
There is a tremendous price being paid for all of this, both in dollars cost and lives lost. If the loss of George Floyd’s life was costly (and it was) what about the at least five people who have died in the subsequent rioting? These riots have now extended to 140 cities, and with the cost of the 1992 Los Angeles riots estimated at 1 billion in property losses, who knows what the cost of the current will be, no doubt hitting the neighborhoods of the rioters hardest. Sometimes the businesses never return, leaving elderly residents, who pretty much despise the rioting, needing now to bus themselves (when the buses start running again) to the grocery store to purchase their own life sustaining foods. Four NYPD cops were almost burned alive when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their car over the weekend. Another officer was smashed in the face with a brick. On Saturday night alone, 33 cops were injured in pitched battles with anti-police protesters. NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan described it as “an organized attempt to attack police.” At one point, when two police SUVs were surrounded by protesters trying to block their passage, cops decided not to be sitting ducks for another Molotov and gingerly drove though the mob. There were no reports of serious injuries, but that didn’t stop Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from demanding the cops be “brought to justice.” This rioting and looting, upheld by the romanticizing and moral licensing of the left, comes with a ridiculously high price tag, both in dollars cost and lives lost, and that is undebatable.
We can’t get the other guy down and take away his life just because we have the temporary advantage, but that seems to be man’s record and history’s profile. It is wrong, whether the abused be an individual, a people, a business, or a police force. Let’s follow the Golden Rule of the LORD Jesus Christ, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (KJV, Matt. 7:12) Imagine yourself being the instigator and the assailant. Is this who you really want to be? I don’t think so!
To me, this is undebatable.
Love and Prayers to all,
Pastor