Let's Change the Conversation

The recent killings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge reflect a growing anger and frustration among minorities especially, but Americans in general, towards the law enforcement community and by extension the entire criminal justice system. 

Every time the media fills our T.V. screens with images and stories of another young black man killed by a police officer, the racial tension grows. It grows in our communities, it grows in our churches, it grows in our schools, and it grows in our prisons. 

Fifty plus years of work towards healing between people groups is threatened every time another suspect is deprived of equal justice and served his sentence instead by a cop who will himself be given unequal justice by the courts who refuse to hold rogue cops accountable.

These years of work towards healing are also threatened whenever hatred towards these injustices results in the killing of cops. Martin Luther King Jr. refused to engage in violent behavior, or to encourage violence with hateful and divisive rhetoric because he understood that hate is never healed with hate. 

It's time for our country to fix the problem of street and judicial injustice and to begin to find solutions that are inclusive and healing. It is also time for the hateful and divisive rhetoric of the violent protesters to stop. Let's stop fueling a growing divide and begin healing the brokenness, fear, and hatred that exists on both sides.

If we want to change this divide we must change the conversation. We cannot depend on politicians to solve this problem though. We must own it ourselves and begin an honest dialogue where the tension grows the most: in our communities, churches, schools, and prisons.