This is taken from my response to a post on Facebook a while back.

When I affirm that all lives matter, one thing I’m referring to is that someone I love very much is a cop. No matter what else is going on in the world,  his life always matters. As you must know, many don’t come home to their loved ones, after having done their very best all shift to make the world a better place. Sadly, many of those who pull the triggers or wield the knives are black.  No matter what may have lead them to do such a thing, randomly killing cops, as well as committing murder, is “throwing the baby out with the bath”. When someone is breaking into your house, who will you call when they have all been eliminated – either by death, or deciding it just isn’t worth the risk to themselves or their families anymore?

When tragedies such as happened with George Floyd occur, the white people I know, including myself, are grieved and appalled. Most cops, as well, also feel betrayal that a brother in blue would do this, wrecking lives and bringing shame on their uniform. They matter, but much of the rage is taken out on them, whether they are black or white or in between. The color doesn’t seem to matter much then. Just in these past few days, cops have been dying. Some were black. Is it really about race then?

When I say all lives matter, I’m also talking about the millions of truly innocent little babies, many of whom were black, who were ripped apart in their mother’s wombs, whose organs were sold for money! and/or who were left screaming in pain to die alone on a cold steel table because, frankly, no one cared. There are many other examples, but until all lives matter, black lives won’t either.

That’s because all of this grief and heartache is caused by the same thing – sin. Until we each deal with the sin in our hearts that leads to the actions that destroy, lives that should matter to everyone will not matter. Fits of rage and riots on the parts of some take innocent life of all colors, and they are no happier about their pain than rioting people are about theirs. In fact, we’ve all seen the picture of the man (black) with tears rolling down his face because rioters destroyed the business and savings he had worked long and hard to build. My heart went out to him.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, no matter how angry we may be and, in fact, just continue the cycle we are caught in. The rioters who are destroying lives and property need to be held accountable and put in jail, just as Mr. Chauvin and others are, until either proven innocent or guilty. If we truly want to break the racism cycle, it can’t be “us versus them”. We are all in this together. It is our country that is being destroyed by it. We must hold those accountable who break the law and destroy life, whether we view life through the same colored lens as they do, or not. We must realize how very much we have in common, even though in some ways we are different. We do, indeed, all bleed the same. There are many different sides to this dilemma, and no one but us can be the solution to it.

https://terrencekwilliams.com/ This is the true story of a boy who grew up in the foster system and has become an inspiration to millions. I hope you will take a few moments, if you are not already familiar, to get to know him and his story.