Let Change Come: Thoughts on George Floyd
Dearly Beloved:
My heart goes out to the family of George Floyd and to all oppressed black people everywhere. When I saw the images of a racist, disgraceful, overseer, kneeling on the neck of a nonviolent black man I became just as sick and enraged as every decent American. As a person of color I am constantly reminded of how little I matter in this country. Thankfully, when I read my Bible I am reminded of how priceless and precious I am to my LORD. For, were it not for HIM, I would feel hopeless.
Many Americans don’t realize that there are no laws against lynching in this country. Black men continue to be lynched on the streets and in courtrooms even as I am writing this. I am of mixed race and I have many white friends. When I talk to them about my journey, it is hard for my white family and friends to understand what its like to be a person of color in America. My white mother gets it because she has personally witnessed the racism I have faced my whole life.
It was so hard for her to watch me getting lynched by an all white courtroom during my unjust trial. References to my race were constantly injected without a single objection from my lawyers. The white jury, prosecution, judge, my co-defendant’s lawyers, and even my own lawyers put their collective knee on my neck. Its still there slowly, but surely, choking me to death. I have been sentenced to death by incarceration. The only real evidence is my skin. So when I watch other colored people being mistreated or murdered on television it cuts deep within my soul. On my worst days I wonder would I be better off going home to my LORD than to continue living under this oppressive system that clearly hates people who look like me. Never-the-less, not my will LORD, but Your will be done!
Though I prefer peace, I completely understand why people are burning police stations and police cars. Just as I would understand a slave burning a plantation down or the home of an overseer. (What a strange coincidence that overseer and officer sound so similar.) After all, a government should be afraid of its people not the other way around. When cops do the right thing then we should praise them, like the heroes they are, but when they unduly hurt one of us or treat people different according to color we must demand justice. If they won’t listen to reason we must protest until they do. If the roles were reversed and it was four black men murdering a white man, on national TV no less, they would all be immediately arrested for capital murder. There would be nothing fair about their swift trial.
To my white countrymen who are protesting on behalf of their black brethren, I salute you. That’s what really needs to happen. It must be a majority of us all banding together in order to effect change on a grand scale. When they see that the masses in unison want that change, they will have no choice. We cannot stop with police brutality. We must stop institutional racism and class-ism at every level of our government and society as a whole.
As far as burning the flag or kneeling during the national anthem, I disagree wholeheartedly with both. Though I understand the gestures. The American flag and the national anthem are not symbols of the government they are symbols of the people. They belong to us. What we need to do is make them stand for all of the people. We need to hold them to the highest standard.
We are losing our country. We are losing our rights. We are being monitored by ever evolving sophisticated technology – facial recognition, cellphone tracking, warrant-less wire taps, drones, just to name a few. The government is spying on innocent citizens who are not criminals. The government is writing new laws so they can do so unchecked or hindered by constitutional rights. They are circumventing the Constitution. Do you hear what I’m saying? They are circumventing the Constitution. [Maine Law Leaves Room For Unchecked Police Technology Use] If we don’t stop them soon we will lose every right that has been fought and died for. Satan is controlling this nation.
I believe that GOD allowed this virus to wake us up. I just hope enough of us do. We have an opportunity to change this nation. Its not about making America great again. With our checkered past, that’s a joke. What we need to do is make America great – period! Not with liberty and justice for some, but for all of us.
I believe it can happen. I just hope I live to see it.
I want to be clear here. I am not an anarchist. I believe in a fair and balanced police force. I believe in real justice for everyone. I do not agree with nor do I believe in our current unbalanced and unjust system. I believe that all power belongs to the people and should come from GOD. In GOD we must trust, not the government. For, most governments are inherently evil and corrupt. The founding fathers didn’t want a government because they knew that it would inevitably become what it is now – all powerful and corrupt. So they put certain protections into the Constitution to ensure that we could put the government in check when it gets to where it is right now. In fact, Thomas Jefferson famously said we should have a revolution in this country every hundred years to keep the government fair and balanced. He also said that he would rather see a thousand guilty men go free than for one innocent man to go to prison. I say he is right and we have lost those values in this nation.
To the family of George Floyd: I love you in Christ. Thank you for sharing brother George with us. Thank you for your sacrifice. His death will not be in vain, for he is a martyr for the cause of freedom. It is so fitting that he is a Christian man. I can’t wait to meet him in Heaven.
May God bless and keep you all and may God bless America. Be safe out there!
Love in Christ,
Your brother, Randall
(A man who believes in God and true freedom)