This is the first time that I’ve addressed an issue such as this…everything on the outside tells me to keep my opinion to myself, but my insides are screaming out in disappointment and disgust of the ignorance of our society. As a minority, a mother of two sons and a wife of an officer…a white officer to be exact…I’m put in an extremely tough position. I’m an objective thinker, I rarely base decisions on emotion, I’m a skeptic, I’m a facts seeker…yes, these types of issues frustrate me to the core. When my husband leaves for work I usually give him a quick hug and a kiss. However, there are times when something in my soul urges me to give him a lengthy embrace; there is a likelihood that he will not return home to us.
Please, for one moment, look outside society’s box and take on another perspective…a perspective that may be difficult to understand, but engage with me for just a moment…
Everyday that my husband puts on his uniform he’s painted a villain simply for doing his job. He went to hell and back in an academy, (Which is not the same for everyone hence a previous blog post I’ve written titled Whom Do You Want To Answer Your 9-1-1 Call?) took an oath to serve and protect perfect strangers, and is called a racist on a daily basis because he’s a white cop…so much so that when he hears it he just rolls his eyes and begins to articulate to said ignorant people why he stopped them. Little do they know he comes home to a brown skinned wife and two beautiful mixed babies. He rarely vents about it, but when he does I get upset and defensive for him. How dare they accuse him of something he’s not just because of an assumption based on an outside appearance…you see, we all do it! Our communities scream about injustice, yet they are committing the same injustices. We could go back and forth and debate until we are blue in the face about this case, but at the end of the day, my husband has been drilled and trained over and over about what he needs to do to protect his community and come home to his family. I’m not ashamed at all to say that he better use the tools in his belt that have been entrusted to him if the circumstance presents itself. Do I want somebody to die? Not in the least bit, and I pray constantly that it will never have to come to that. However, I don’t want my husband to be afraid to use necessary force to defend himself because of what the public will think.
I’m not naive to think that there aren’t fishy situations and crooked systems…in this particular situation I feel that the officer did what he has been trained to do. Why do I think that? As stated before, I am a facts seeker and I am an objective thinker. I don’t base decisions out of emotion. I do agree with the majority that the incident was poorly handled and communicated, but I don’t believe the officer should be punished for doing his job. (Just for the record, having all of our officers have body cameras will not solve the problem. I guarantee you protesters will find something else to protest about. It will simply be a waste of tax dollars.) Let’s just agree to disagree…or some of you may actually agree, and to you I say thank you for thinking objectively.
To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s expend our energy in a godly way. Sin is sin…it’s ugly and is destroying our country. I challenge you to take a stand for Christ, and not for a judgement made by, at times, an imperfect system…the only perfect judgement will be by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when He comes down to this earth to claim His bride. God has created our differences and has asked us to love and embrace every color. There are millions of people in our society craving for something to stand for…share the Good News with them. Let us not forget why God put us on this earth…it is for His purpose alone!
Sworn By Marriage 