Why is the Message Often Lost?

It really stung! Someone I truly love and admire said it. "All lives matter," he said with a shrug as he turned away. He caught me off guard and I honestly don't remember how we even found ourselves talking about it. Taken aback by his comment I couldn't even pull my thoughts together and fear that my response...my reaction was not very coherent. Whatever my message was, I let it get lost because I couldn't keep my normally even keel. And as I watch today’s riots happening in many of our cities, I wonder if the message will once again get lost as it did that evening in my friend's living room and as it did back in 2017 when the NFL gave in to pressure, cracking down on players who chose to take a knee to protest police brutality.

Now those who wish not to face the truth can choose to focus on something else. They can (rightfully) complain about the destruction, about the thefts and about the violence aimed at our cities' police officers. (To those who seek confrontation remember when thrown, a bottle can't tell the difference between a good cop and a bad one.) A riot changes the focus as we (rightfully) become concerned about the innocent business owners (some of whom are black) whose dreams have gone up in smoke. The story now is about violence, as those who do not want to admit the bigger problem find it easier to complain about "these people," allowing their anger over one wrong to keep them from dealing with the other wrong.

Here's where the focus should remain. An officer of the law put his knee on the neck of a human being. A man begged for his life for six minutes as another man knelt on him. (Odd how taking a knee has moved from a controversial statement of dissatisfaction to a controversial way to rob a man of his life.) For two or three minutes after George Floyd stopped talking, that knee remained on his neck. After eight and a half minutes of someone kneeling on him, a person, a citizen of the United States, an American was DEAD. And we now have two different autopsies, one saying that George Floyd died of asphyxiation the other that pressure on his neck contributed to his death. In other words, he died because he couldn’t breath!

Before we deal with race, there is a question we must ask and we can’t let what is happening during these protests distract us. Ask yourself: Do you want a country where a man (with or without a badge) thinks it’s okay to kneel on another (handcuffed) man? If you think this is wrong, don't let the real message get lost.

See also:

Medical examiner and family-commissioned autopsy agree: George Floyd's death was a homicide

Do You Stand With or Against Kaepernick?

Taking A Knee, Losing The Message: Why the NFL Should Stop Kneeling