Orlando and Baltimore – A Relevant Repost

June 21, 2016

Orlando: Here’s the Truth – 49 people were murdered by a demon-possessed maniac in the name of his god, Allah, not Yahweh, Elohim, or Jesus.

 

May 5, 2015                            Joe Scotto’s take

 

What is my take on Baltimore, 2015? Here it is:

 

A young man died in police custody.

 

                        Scratch that…

 

An AMERICAN young man died in police custody.

 

This is a tragedy. We need to find out why.

 

            This should have NEVER turned into the racial incident that it has become. It does have to do with race NOW, after the media spin doctors (aka, the mainstream media) and the “race pimps”, like the Reverend Al Sharpton and his many colleagues, have made it into a race story. If it is, how do we reconcile the fact that three of the policemen were also African-American, including a WOMAN. This is not about race.

 

So what is it about? It’s another incident that has been pumped up to be about race to benefit, ultimately, the purposes of the left (including the media’s frantic goal of getting Hillary Clinton elected president in 2016 – do not discount THAT angle!) Let’s search for the TRUTH, then come to a conclusion. Let’s use our sweet logic – and the brain-power that the Lord has bestowed on us.

 

First point: we are together. When one young American man dies – for any reason – it should concern us all. This is not a young “black” man – that sets up boundaries that should not exist. This is us – ALL of us! I don’t care more or less because he was African-American; I care because an American, with the same rights I have, under the same Constitution I’m under, whose government is dedicated to the ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” lost his life while he was being detained by law enforcement officials. His life was taken without his rights as an American being recognized; his rights were violated to the maximum degree: to take someone’s life in this way is inexcusable. This needs to be – and as I can see it, it is – being prosecuted in the proper way.

 

Second point: we need the police. There is truth to the “thin blue line” metaphor. The police are necessary for all of us to be truly free. That sounds contradictory, but it’s true. We can’t be free unless our right to private property and life is protected by law. And who are those who make sure the law is upheld? The police. Do you remember that movie which was based on the concept of a family trying to survive the one day a year when everybody can do exactly what they want without breaking the law? That’s what life would be like every day if it weren’t for some individuals in our society who see it as their duty to uphold the law. No one really wants anarchy – not even anarchists (they wouldn’t like it if the wall of policemen that protected them where they protest at the G-7 or whatever actually let the crowds get to them and do whatever they wanted to them. Well … I guess a lot of them would be dead or maimed… that would ruin their day for sure!) Anyway – we need the police.

 

Third: good professions can attract rotten people. I’m all for church pastors – righteous, hard-working ones can be the best people on Earth! But there are certainly evil pastors – those who take advantage of their positions for sexual abuse or for illicit sexual affairs or for illicit use of money given to the Lord, or to gain power over the lives of other people, and so on. Jesus castigated the religious leaders of Israel in no uncertain terms; they returned His verbal assaults on them by having Him executed. There are good spiritual leaders identified in the Scriptures, like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemis – and, later, Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul. Just so, there are many good, righteous, decent, trustworthy, kind, wise policemen. The majority of police, I’m sure, are as good and decent as others in our society. Actually, because of the fact that they literally put their lives on the line every day to protect our freedom, there are probably a high percentage of police who take their jobs seriously and do their jobs well. But are there rotten apples in the barrel? Without a doubt! Does that mean we shouldn’t have police? See point 2 above – of course we need police. Should we do away with church pastors because some of them are pedophiles? Not at all – but because we approve of the good people in every profession doesn’t mean we should tolerate the evil ones.

 

There have always been bad policemen. I’m sure there have been bad policemen as long as there have been human governments. There are good and righteous government officials, but there’ve been a lot of corrupt ones, too. For every clean and above-board police departments, there is a Tammany Hall police department. So, we can’t just condemn all police because some are on the take. I was inspired as a young man by Frank Serpico, who wasn’t afraid to take on – and snitch – on those corrupt cops in the NYPD. We have to take Serpico’s attitude that corruption of any kind cannot and must not be tolerated. We must not do it ourselves, for intrinsic moral reasons, but we should not allow it to continue around us. Corruption of anybody in government is a profound violation of the trust we put in them.

 

Another thing: we need to teach our young American citizens to respect the police. They’ve got a tough job to do; give them the respect they deserve. If you refuse to respect the police (“look what they do to us!”), I can understand why they won’t respect you. Both the police AND the public need to respect the other, even if the other side is not respectful. It seems to me that someone once said something about turning the other cheek. So, even if you’ve been wronged in the past, even if your perceived group has been wronged in the past, that is irrelevant to how you should act. As we see above, being a policeman is an honorable and a necessary occupation. We should teach our children those things. We should let them know that, yes, there are bad people in every profession in life, but that is no reason to treat an entire group with contempt and disrespect. Having a different attitude (as in turning the other cheek) will go miles (or maybe TWO miles) to solving these problems.

 

Which brings us back to Baltimore, May, 2015…

There is no excuse for the police to act the way they did in this circumstance. Freddie Gray had not committed a crime, in this situation. He was not armed; he simply ran away from the police – maybe resisting arrest, but, as far as I know, the police were just responding to his response to them (there has been mention of a knife which, if present, could have a bearing on this case). Now, from the perspective of the police: I have heard one excuse for their actions to say that Freddie Gray was a criminal “with a rap sheet a mile long.” Even if the police knew that (did they?), that is no excuse to treat him the way they did. If, as I’ve been told, they didn’t strap him down while they were taking him on a “rough ride” because he was biting and trying to hurt them, then they should never have done that. Even the idea of a “rough ride” is illegal, unethical, and immoral – no matter how the perp treats them, there is no excuse for doing that. I know – the police are sick and tired of having their work overturned in court. I can definitely understand their frustration (O.J. trial, anyone?). But they have a job that, unfortunately, must be done. If we really want our private property rights upheld… if we really want to live in a society that is safe for our families and friends (not to mention ourselves), then we must support the police. But, that does NOT mean that the police have free reign to do whatever they want to. They are bound by rules governing what they do just like everyone else. Just like, as a teacher, I cannot do certain things, or say certain things, or even believe certain things, and expect to be able to hold on to my job. They have a right to self-defense, but that right has limits, just like it has for all of us.

 

Finally, there is no excuse for looting and destructive behaviors by protestors. You will say,” Well, no one will pay attention if we protest quietly and legally.” That may, in fact, be true – but do your civil disobedience the way Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., would have approved of. Destroying buildings and stealing from shop owners who had nothing to do with the things you’re upset about is immoral and inexcusable. If you’re angry because a young American died in police custody when he was not committing a crime, then protest. But there’s no excuse for most of what has happened in Ferguson and Baltimore, under any circumstance.

 

So, this senseless loss of life needs to be investigated. When one American’s rights are violated, all of our rights are violated. The police may have acted illegally – if so, they need to be prosecuted within their rights as Americans. But ethnicity has no place in this serious situation – and should never have been brought up.