BLACK LIVES MATTER

Black lives matter! Black people, particularly African American young men, are subject to violence by rogue police officers and others in the USA. This problem is compounded by the gun anarchy in our country. Three recent examples that have come into public view were the killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, George Floyd in Minneapolis Minnesota, and Breona Taylor in Louisville Kentucky. All three cases were tragic and had racial implications, but the details were different. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery was a first degree murder and a hate crime. The murderers pursued and shot Arbery, who was simply jogging, because he was Black. The killing of George Floyd was committed by the reckless action of a rogue police officer. What degree of murder or manslaughter was committed depends on the intention of the killer, but certainly race was a factor. The killing of Breona Taylor was tragic, should not have happened, and race was involved, but looking at it only through the lense of what I heard in the news poses the question of where is the guilt? Apparently the police were falsely sent during the night to the wrong location to investigate. Breona Taylor and her boyfriend were roused from their sleep by the police crashing down the door. The boyfriend fearing a criminal entry fired at the door with his gun. The police responding, fired back killing Miss Taylor. So, where is the guilt? Unless there are factors other than what I understood from the news, the guilt does not lie with the police officer who fired the shots after shots had come out of the dwelling or with the boyfriend who fired thinking he was firing at intruders. There was guilt by whoever sent the police to the wrong location, by a mentality among Whites that assumes the worst when Blacks are involved, and by the people who promote the gun anarchy which put all the parties immediately involved in this tragic situation. If there had been proper gun control in place, the tragedy could have been avoided.

Asian lives matter! The murder of 8 people at 3 Asian massage parlors by a white gunman in Georgia was obviously racially motivated. Yet a sheriff’s captain in Cherokee County defended the murderer saying that he had a bad day. It turns out that this particular captain has displayed hostility toward Asians. This murder is the culmination of months of incitement by the former president (Trump) who blamed the COVID crisis on China to deflect from his own neglect of the problem here in the USA. Many of Trump’s slavish followers are responding by targeting their fellow citizens of Asian decent.

Jewish lives matter! I am fortunate that my grandparents brought my parents to America fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire in the early 20^th Century. One third of all the Jews in the world and the vast majority of my relatives in Eastern Europe were murdered by the invading Nazis during the holocaust.

All lives matter!

The glass pendant pictured above is named Black Lives Matter and is inspired by the Black Lives Matter Movement. The black background represents Black Americans. The green stems and light blue flowers represent life. It can be found at BLACK LIVES MATTER GLASS PENDANT WITH BAIL (beadshaper.com)