Don’t worry folks, it’s just a summer of love!
At least that’s how Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan sees the events taking place in the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” those six blocks or so in Seattle now renamed “CHAZ.” It’s an autonomous zone in that it is (I guess) a “Cop Free Zone,” with the police having withdrawn from the area after boarding up the East Precinct police headquarters, which have since been defaced with the caption on the building stating “Seattle People Department.” (Which people I wonder?”) One article called it “an exercise in self-government,” and it is a government that has established its present borders with a makeshift wall (barricades).
Like so many things in America right now, there is a great gulf fixed between opposing opinions, of which there are more than two. While Mayor Jenny sees this as “patriotism," and more like a fiesta and a block party than a takeover, Police Chief Carmen Best (ironically we might say, an African-American woman who is in charge of the city’s safety and well-being, so Black Lives Do Matter) expressed frustration that protesters had demanded the removal of police barricades, only to erect their own. Chief Best told reporters on Thursday that she was outraged by the events unfolding, and she also told her fellow officers, “You should know, leaving the precinct was not my decision. You fought for days to protect it. I asked you to stand on that line. Day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened and in some cases hurt. Then to have a change of course nearly two weeks in, it seems like an insult to you and our community.” Michael Sloan, the head of Seattle’s police union, also slammed the decision to leave the precinct, calling it “the closest I’ve seen to our country becoming a lawless state.”
Accurate information on life inside the CHAZ is hard to pin down, but for sure barricades are a concern to the police and fire departments, with the police saying that response times have been tripled to the area. A woman from Tacoma, Washington, was arrested for burning five Seattle Police vehicles during earlier protests, apparently celebrating the block party in ways that even Mayor Jenny would disapprove of, we hope. And the fact that protesters have posted signs that say “You are now leaving the USA” is not something many Americans agree with.
As I said yesterday, I believe authorities need to take back Capitol Hill, and beyond that, I take offense at Seattle’s leaders minimizing the fact that they no longer control a portion of their city. Technically, you cannot change an electrical outlet in your own home without a permit, an yet these liberal leaders are permitting a several block wide takeover without permit, and I’ll guarantee these protestors haven’t even applied for one. After all, it is an “Autonomous Zone.” I’m afraid some things in my house have been “bootlegged” in the past, and when they pardon these protesters I want the same, or I might just take over La Mirada City hall (sarcasm intended. I would never do such a thing.)
Among the many things that I love about Jesus is that He always told the truth. He said to the civic leaders of His day, “Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.” (John 8:55 KJV).The great prophet Jeremiah, becoming discouraged at public opposition to the Word of God, in his frustration revealed his inner turmoil, saying, “… I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jeremiah 20:9) Jeremiah felt the pressure, but like Jesus he spoke the truth anyway. Protestors all across our country are acting with violence, burning, destruction, statues being destroyed, defaced, and torn down, and even police officers killed in the process. I want to see it stopped, and at the very least I want it called out for what it is. People are losing on-air jobs and publications positions simply for calling this lawlessness exactly what it is. That tells me we need more people speaking the truth, and when not enough people speak the truth, the truth becomes outlawed. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
Mayor Jenny Durkan, you’re listening to the protestors, but you’re not listening to Chief Best or President Trump. I don’t suppose there’s much chance you’ll listen to God either, but He’s telling the truth!
Love and Prayers to all,
Pastor