With that said, I happen to disagree with many of the public
opinions I have seen following the Michael Brown case and most recently the
case of Eric Garner.
I was raised to respect authority and to obey the law. For
this reason, I can honestly say that I have never had an unpleasant run-in with
police.
Had Eric Garner not resisted arrest, police would never have
had to use additional force. Mind you, I’m not giving police officers the green
light to use excessive force, but life is made up of choices. Eric Garner chose
to break the law, he chose to resist arrest.
This weekend in South Bend, Indiana, the Women’s Basketball
team chose to wear shirts supporting Eric Garner. The shirts read, “I can’t breathe.”
While it is their right to express their Freedom of Speech,
I am disappointed in their choice to do so on this topic.
December 13th was the 11th anniversary
of the death of two local Mishawaka Police Officers, Brian Verkler and Thomas
Roberts. The basketball team claims they didn’t realize the coincidence, I don’t
think it matters.
Police officers should be respected and appreciated for
putting their lives on the line each day.
Only they know how it feels to have a split second to react to a
suspected criminal. Hindsight is 20/20 and the media and public can rehash and
scrutinize the actions of police repeatedly.
If only officers had the luxury of taking a few minutes to really study
the situation and ask questions before they have time to react. Unfortunately,
that just isn’t the case.
In the case of Michael Brown, I can’t even begin to believe
the backlash from the whole situation. It saddens me to see what they are doing
to their town. Because a young man was
shot, a young man who was believed to be making poor choices, hard-working
residents have lost their businesses due to looting.
I’ll never understand how that makes sense. People are
outraged at what they consider the “wrong doing” of one person, so they
continue to wrong others.
I haven’t blogged on this topic because I’m so tired of
hearing about it that I could scream.
But Saturday’s display by the Lady Irish was somewhat
upsetting. Over the years I have gotten to know several of the surviving family
members of police officers who have been killed in the line of duty and no one
seems to be outraged about the violence shown to them. Where was the outrage
when they couldn’t breathe? They weren’t breaking the law. They were trying to
serve and protect….
These recent stories and the decisions of both grand juries
not to indict have tarnished the thousands of police officers who help others
on a daily basis. Remember, we don’t
know the whole story of what happened. We
only know what the media has focused on.
The grand jury has the most information, much of what is not made
public.
It’s not about hiring more minority police officers, it’s about
respecting authority and making choices that are good and honorable. These two
cases could have totally been avoided had better choices been made.
I hope you will consider joining me to support our local
police officers on Sunday, December 21st at Eddy Street Commons
between Noon and 3pm. For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/events/956417591055115/?sid_reminder=6571633308176744448
