Some Black Lives Matter, but not all!

The reality is that homicides in major cities are not race neutral. 136,000 Americans are shot each year—over one million in the past decade and. 36,000 killed. The shooters were most likely black as well. This is a devastating plague acutely affecting black communities across the country.

The killings continue even as the country faces a Coronavirus pandemic that prompted the governor to place states on a stay-at-home lock-down. No one is to go out unless it is for essentials such as groceries and prescription medications. However, the killings did not stop and are rising rapidly. Again, it is mostly black victims.

When the big city Mayor’s got tough on “bad guys with guns,” homicides in went down. It is likely that most of those detained were black. In these reductions in homicides, the people who benefited most also were African Americans who lost fewer sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers to senseless street violence. More black people lived. However, the mantra has been about cops killing innocent black men.

In the past months, we have had highly destructive riots under the banner of Black Lives Matter. Each was started by the death of a black person at the hands of officer(s). Details in most, factual details are still coming out. Yet, in every case, the commencement of rioting and destruction started immediately.

For most people, it is difficult to balance the outrage of “death by police” with the daily black-on-black homicides that occur daily. This is the conversation we need to have. The riots have only destroyed. They have not produced any closure of the gap of needed understanding and change.