I was not going to write anything about the turmoil that is tearing our country apart. I tried to start writing about it once but things were changing so fast that my writing was woefully out of date after 24 hours. Things have been moving fast ... too fast. My perception of things will not agree with a lot of you and to be honest, I am to the point of not really caring one bit right now. The United States is being torn apart from within. It is quickly becoming a country that I don't recognize and I feel it is changing for the worse.
Let me say one thing that I deeply feel is a true statement. The vast majority of Americans, well over 99%, were shocked and outraged at the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. I know I was. I want those officers to be held accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want any cop that goes against his sworn oath and duty to be held accountable. I also think that the police officers should be held to a higher standard when performing their job than ordinary citizens. I would be willing to wager that most Americans, that 99%, feel the same way. At the same time, the police should be given latitude for their actions in situations that are high stress with little time to think cognitively on how to deal with it. A police officer must be able to think on his feet very quickly and to act in the most appropriate manner that he feels is justified. It takes a special person to do that job and I for one am not equipped to be able to do it.
So what happened in our country to take us from total unanimity on the outrage of the actions of police officers dealing with Mr. Floyd to the subversion taking place in our country today. Well, the story has been progressing for a long time. For the sake of brevity let's just keep it in the recent past. Let's say start in 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. That Act was a huge step in our country moving forward. No, it was not a cure all. It would take the Supreme Court to take it and mold it to the Constitution. As late as 1967, a full three years after the Civil Rights Act passed, interracial marriage was against the law in several states, including the great state of Missouri. When the Supreme Court decided Loving v. Virginia in 1967, it was another very huge step towards bringing the Civil Rights Act to it's full potential to bring equality to all in this land. We still had a ways to go and the Supreme Court is still to this day making decisions that are based on the Civil Rights Act. Same sex marriages have been deemed to be under the umbrella of the 1964 Act. Loop holes in racial equality continue to be sewn shut by the Court. The police have been reformed somewhat by the Court as well. The Miranda case is one of the biggest clamp downs on police in the last century making the police treat all people equal. The decisions continue to be handed down from the Court and the country continues to strive towards that Utopian idea of total equality for all. Where do I stand on the idea of full and total equality? I am 100% for it. I do not think our nation can survive without it. The country continues to move towards that goal year after year and we will get there. This I firmly believe.
Now many of you are probably thinking, why has it taken so long to get there? Why are we still on that path toward total equality? Well, the best answer I can give is that it is vitally important to not move too fast. Some laws that are on the books might seem to be against the idea of equality but if we take a good look at them, they are important in the long run to keep equality instead of making it worse. If we move too fast on such important matters, mistakes will be made and they could have devastating results for those that they are designed to help. We should be careful and make changes methodically, rationalizing what we want the outcome to be and craft any new laws so that they accomplish what we intend to. We are closer to real equality for all citizens of this country right now than we have ever been before. We were anyway until a few months ago. It has not taken long for a few political groups to start the dismantling of our country, our Constitution. I feel like we are on a dangerous downhill path to the United States becoming unrecognizable.
So here we are. The summer of 2020. It has been 56 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The country is only 244 years old. Less than a quarter of our history as a nation has been under the conditions of the Civil Rights Act ... about 23% of our country's existence. That is not a very long time to bring forth such sweeping changes in different cultures, lifestyles and philosophies. With every new generation though, a little of the old cultures, lifestyles and philosophies are discarded and it becomes more natural for the country to move towards the goal of equality for all as a greater percentage of the nation learns and believe in what is the right thing to do. The right way to act and the right way to treat our fellow countrymen and human beings.
Ignorance still has a strangle hold on many members of our society though. Those who are ignorant of what equality means, or what our country stands for are in the minority of the citizens of this country. They are still out there though. The ignorance pervades all cultures, all races, all religions and any other societal sect that there is, but they are thankfully still in the minority. That is why I can look at this country and feel proud of how far we have come in this pursuit. Yes, we have a long ways to go, but we have come such a long ways. That progress is in danger of being totally lost right now. I believe the Great American Experiment is in danger of coming to an end.
You know, for almost a week after Mr. Floyd's murder, we all stood as one. It was horrible. It was wrong. The police officers who committed this crime should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There was no question about it. Then the agitators came. To me these organizations could and should be labeled as domestic terrorist organizations. Suddenly our cities started to burn and unlike anything before, the destruction accelerated at a pace so quickly, we could not keep up with the latest developments. Crime has become rampant as these organizations continue to push their political agendas. They moved so fast and with so much destruction, we saw our police, our leaders kneel before these agitators which pleased them a great deal. Now changes are being made and they are being made to quickly, without forethought or logic. Changes that will change what the United States represent to the world. Changes that could very well never be walked back.
Bits and pieces of the Constitution is at stake in my opinion. Free speech has been greatly altered to allow only the proper ideas and thoughts to be expressed in public without being brought down by the wrath of the radicals. I have already seen the idea of due process greatly inhibited and even tossed aside. We are treading in dangerous waters.
If Dr. King taught us anything, it was that change can be brought about peacefully. Our country seems to have forgotten that ideal.
I pray for our country. I pray for our citizens. I pray that this great country that stands for freedom unlike any other country in the world will survive this tragedy. I pray for a civil discourse to solve these problems that we face. I pray that we can make changes, real changes, but in a thoughtful, reflective and wise manner.
I pray for all .. ALL of my fellow Americans.
May God bless the country and bring us back together and help us to continue moving forward to real equality for all of us. That is my hope for the United States of America.
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