Wrong is wrong

 There is a movement right now to hold police to reasonable standards of behavior.  This movement also seeks to have equal levels of force used regardless of race.  In May 2020 George Floyd was buying something and gave the cashier a fake $20.  The cashier called the police and Mr. Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for 9 minutes.  The police told a version of events that was later contradicted by a video taken by a teenager on site.  The police officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck was convicted of 2nd degree murder and manslaughter.

A friend of mine suggested he died from drug use, and a bad heart.  I have a friend who has MS and if someone knelt on her and she died, I would consider it the fault of the kneeling, not the MS.

Police have an incredibly difficult and stressful job of enforcing the law in a heavily armed population.  So they treat every situation as though it could be lethal.  This creates fear in the population, particularly the black and brown population, who have experienced lethal force from police.  When a black person is pulled over, they fear for their lives because so many black people have been shot by police and not been held accountable.  So a black person, afraid for their life, might run, and the police shoot and kill them.  A black person, afraid for their life, might not stop until they are in a safe place, and the police threaten and pepper spray them.  

Time and time again, police are shooting people who are not shooting at them.  I pray the conviction of the officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck will make officers slow down and de-escalate their interactions with the public.

There are 2 men on trial for chasing Ahmaud Arbery, who was running in their neighborhood, in their trucks.  They cornered him and jumped out of the truck with a gun.  Mr. Arbery felt threatened because they were threatening him.  Mr. Arbery tried to grab the gun he was being threatened with, and was shot.  Mr. Arbery died because these men chased him and threatened him with a gun.  I pray these men are charged with murder.  They caused the death of Mr. Arbery.

A few years ago a black teenager was walking home and a man thought he was a thief.  The man, George Zimmerman, called the police who told him to stay home.  Mr. Zimmerman took a gun and stalked the teen through the neighborhood.  The teen, Travon Martin felt threatened and hid, then jumped out at Mr. Zimmerman.  Mr. Zimmerman, who chose to stalk the teen felt threatened so he shot Travon.  The court said Mr. Zimmerman was innocent of murder because Florida has a "stand your ground" law that allows people to shoot if they feel threatened.  I completely disagree with the verdict.  Travon was not doing anything wrong, and citizens should not be going out to enforce the law.  Again in this case, if Mr. Zimmerman had stayed home, or not brought a gun, Travon would not have been killed.