My Heart is Heavy with the News

He's a Black man! #BlackLivesMatter He's a cop! #PoliceLivesMatter

This man's life matters. Whether he's Black or a police officer or (as is the case) both, he has a family that loves him and wants him to go home safely each night. Yes, there are people in this country who are keeping racism a problem. Yes, there are people in this country who are exhibiting reverse racism. But we are ONE NATION. We should not be continuing the division among classes/groups that is currently going on. I try not to force my views on others, but this country will fall apart if we allow such division to continue. Honestly, if I had seen this man's picture without knowing he was injured by the Dallas shooter, I wouldn't have looked at it and thought, "oh, he's Black." I would have looked at the picture and thought, "Oh, the poor man! I hope he's ok!" I'm not "color blind." I can see that he is Black. But the person he is, whoever he is, has more meaning to me than what color his skin is. Politically, I'm a registered Republican. My morals and values are more conservative than not. I think, however, that we need to reunite as a country to fight the detrimental forces within our country, not break further apart like ice floes in the Arctic Ocean. At one point, the Democratic Party was meant to bring the country together. Now, the Democratic Party seems to encourage divisiveness. I'm pretty sure I could do some extremely superficial, brief research and find examples of the Republican Party doing the same thing. This is not an attack on either party. Or an attack on any of the .....LivesMatter movements. But we can't focus on one specific group. We have to work together. We have to appreciate our Black people, our White people, our Native Americans, our Latino/a people, our Asian people, our emergency personnel, our military, our ... The list goes on and on.  

Officer Montrell Jackson. Also a police officer. Also a Black man. Brutally murdered on the job. HIS life mattered. To his baby. To his family. To his friends. To his coworkers on the Baton Rouge police force. We cannot keep killing each other like this. Officer Jackson’s life mattered AT LEAST as much as Alton Sterling’s or Philando Castile’s lives mattered. We cannot keep turning against and killing each other. Forget BlackLivesMatter, PoliceLivesMatter, or even AllLivesMatter. It’s time to consider these people as individuals. Fathers, brothers, sons, friends…and so much more. My heart breaks for Officer Jackson. Not just because he was a police officer or a Black man, but because he will not be able to enjoy his child growing up. He will not be able to see this child’s milestones, or what this child grows up to be. Because he will not be able to barbecue with friends and family. He will not be able to bring joy to those around him. He will not be able to do any more good in his community. My heart breaks for his family, his friends, his baby.

Photo of Deputy Clopton taken from Police Officers Facebook page 

https://www.facebook.com/PoliceOfficersUS/photos/a.1201662653206628.1073741828.1199323963440497/1275207315852161/?type=3&theater

Photo of Officer Jackson taken from US Weekly website

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/baton-rouge-shooting-three-police-officer-victims-identified-w429559