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Ugly Racial Stupidity Lives On

Dear Editor, 

While we all hope life gets back to normal soon, there are some parts of “normal” that I can live without. For example, the ugly racial incidents that occurred in Georgia and Indiana last week. 

In Georgia, two white men saw a black man running through their neighborhood and suspected he was a burglar. Did they call the police? No. Instead, they grabbed their guns and jumped in a pickup truck in hopes of making a “citizen’s arrest.” In an incident reminiscent of George Zimmerman, the unnecessary confrontation left jogger Ahmaud Arbery dead. 

A few days later, a young black man led Indianapolis police on a high-speed chase. When sighted on the street shortly thereafter, he fled the authorities and died in a shootout with a black police officer. As is too often the case, activists took to the street acting as if the young man was shot down in cold blood. This rabble-rousing inspired revenge, not justice. In apparent response, an even younger black man, 19-year-old McHale Rose, called in a fake burglary report in an attempt to ambush and kill police officers with a rifle.  Rose died when four officers returned fire. 

If nothing else, these tragedies show that stupidity is not the province of any one skin color.  And the stupidity continues with lies spread during ongoing street protests and in online character assassinations.  There can be no justice without truth.  Not “your” truth but the truth – the facts of what actually happened in any given case. 

Unfortunately, for some people the truth is not bad enough.  It doesn’t conform to their narrative.  It defies their prejudices – black or white.  In some cases it denies them of the power they gain by stoking racial division. 

These people are part of the problem, not the solution.  They need to divide the world, us against them.  The ends justify the means; truth be damned.  And they succeed when good people shrink from responsibility either by joining their mob or walking away quietly. 

As the old saying goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.”  Don’t do nothing.  Seek out the truth.  Demand justice for all. 

Paul King