Don’t Shoot the Messenger
WARNING: If you rather accept things blindly, don’t read this essay.
Those of you who have read my articles know that I feel the attack on the police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were cowardly. You also know that I feel the killing of unarmed Black men is also cowardly. However, the last shooting takes the cake. And luckily there is video footage to verify what happened. According to a story written by the Associated Press Wednesday, and the accompanying video, a Black therapist in North Miami who was trying to calm an autistic patient in the middle of the street says he was shot by police even though he had his hands in the air and repeatedly told them that no one was armed. The moments before and after the shooting were recorded on cell phone video and released to local media. The video shows Charles Kinsey lying on the ground with his arms raised, talking to his patient and police throughout the standoff with officers, who appeared to have them surrounded. “As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me. This is what I’m thinking. They’re not going to shoot me,” he told WSVN-TV from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg. “Wow, was I wrong.” The shooting victim, from his hospital bed said that he asked the policeman, “Why did you shoot me?” He said the policeman replied, “I don’t know.”
But before I get into what I’m going to say, I believe eventually this recent shooting will give anti-violence groups and “Black Lives Matter” their smoking gun. There’s no way the “All Lives Matter” movement can blame the victim for being shot. He was truly a therapist. The young man he was helping was really an autistic patient. The shooting victim had his hands up, while lying on the ground, on his back. For whatever reason the police had him surrounded, with their guns pointed at him. For what appears to be no reason at all, the police shot the man while his hands were up in the air. Luckily, they only shot him in the leg. Again, there’s no blaming the victim. This guy was no threat to the safety of the policemen. Yet, they still shot him!
So, my question to you is, why is the shooting and killing of unarmed Black men happening? As wrong as these reasons are, revenge and retaliation are the reasons policemen are suddenly getting shot. I say suddenly and I will back up using that word in a second.
The problem with most people in America is that they are victims and they don’t even know it. Often, those who are unaware that they are victims do a fair amount of damage. Sometimes when that damage is done, it causes a ripple effect. That’s when things get confused and all hell breaks loose. This is exactly what has happened with the shootings of unarmed Black men and now the shootings of policemen. Misinformation is the culprit that makes America act stupid. We’re all full of misinformation. That’s because we allow the television news to educate us. Back in the days of Walter Cronkite, or the Huntley and Brinkley Report, we could depend on the truth. Today news is entertainment, designed to get ratings, not truth. It has gotten to the point where we are addicted to this brand of entertainment and have come to dislike true facts. We want drama, not boring facts. Facts make us think and we don’t wanna think. We wanna be told what to think. Television news has done what drug dealers do. They tease you with a little, until you’re hooked. Then they jack the price up. The American public has sold its soul to drama. If someone attempts to enlighten us with truth, we’ll shoot the messenger.
In an article dated December 9, 2014 Eva Decesare writes, the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), recorded a preliminary total of 4,405 fatal work injuries in the US in 2013. The BLS compiled that data to make a chart of the top ten most dangerous jobs. Guess who’s not in the top ten. That’s right, policemen. A report put out at the beginning of the year by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, highlights that lack of danger by showing that 2013 has had the “Lowest Level of Law Enforcement Fatalities in Six Decades” and the fewest officers killed by firearms since 1887.
