This past week I decided to take my mom out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. As we sat along the sushi bar squeezed between two couples, images of riots and police brutality flickered on the flat screen televisions above us. I was caught up in the hysteria in front of me until the couple’s comments besides me grabbed my attention.
“I just can’t stand seeing things like this,” the man commented. I braced myself, wondering where in the world is he going with this. “It’s just, obviously, they’ve done something to deserve this. Or else why would they be treated that way?”
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“The police are justified in their actions," a woman next to him (I'm guessing his wife) said. "Like the boy who got shot in the back several times, maybe if he didn’t resist the police that wouldn’t have happened to him.” I nearly choked on my overpriced fish taco. She was referring to the case of LaQuan McDonald, who was shot in the back sixteen times by a Chicago police officer.
As I sat there, her words resonated with me. Maybe the police are justified in their actions. Maybe a 17-year-old boy with his entire future ahead of him deserved to be shot in the back sixteen times in 10 seconds. Perhaps anytime a group of people spoke out against something that was unjust they should be met with pepper spray and batons swatted at them. It all makes sense to me now, but I couldn’t help but wonder, would this couple’s opinions be different if the victims of this brutality looked like them? If LaQuan McDonald were a blue-eyed, blonde boy would their reactions be rage instead of reason? If the crowd was made up of good mannered white people instead of my brothers and sisters would they feel my pain instead of scowling in my face?
What scares me the most is that this couple beside me firmly believed what they were saying to be true. What I felt was injustice, they felt was justified. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Ignorance is contagious. Just take a look at who’s running for president and the size of his following. You can choose to be knowledgeable and emphatic. So I implore you and the couple at the sushi bar to be more open-minded and loving, to care about issues that may not directly affect you, to think before you speak, and to educate yourself on current events.
My heart goes out to that couple and as we say down here in the South... bless their little hearts.
