Don't Take Sides. Take a Stand.

Very sorry to hear about Dallas.

Violence doesn't justify violence, unlawful death doesn't validate more unlawful death.

This doesn't cancel out the first two atrocities (Sterling and Falcon Heights), but you don't protest murder by committing more murder.

Sad for all the lives lost, in all three instances.  But please... don't use one to explain/forgive the other.

View these three instances as references to the simple basic factor in the statement below:

Stop killing people.

You can protest without killing. You can detain without executing.  You can pull someone over without shooting them in front of their wife and daughter.

I forsee plenty of conflicting and terrible statements in the wake of this.

I forsee men saying the cops had it coming.  That they kept killing African American men, women, and children... And this kind of vengeance is justified.  That they were pushed to this in light of the Sterling and Falcon Heights Shootings.

Then, there's the other side.  People who will say that the cops murdered the two men BECAUSE of this type of violence.  That if the Dallas shootings hadn't happened, cops wouldn't use lethal force to begin with.  That this "proved" that most "black guys" are "criminals," so maybe killing Sterling and Castile is justified.

Both of these beliefs are fundamentally flawed. 

Don't take sides.  Don't say "the cops deserved it" or "the blacks deserved it."  Don't use this as a platform to propagate hate. 

All that will lead to is more hate.

Instead of taking sides, take a stand.  A stand against violence of all kinds.  A stand against murder, which was present in all three cases.  A stand against intolerance, bigotry, and in gun related deaths.

A stand for decency and humanity. 

The lives of these police officers and the two African Americans that have been lost?  Those didn't need to be lost.  They should NOT have died.

Let's take a look at preventation by using words, logic, and heart.

If we say "What happened to Sterling and Castile is why we should rise against the police..."

More police will be murdered.

If we say "What happened in Dallas to the police officers is why we should treat black people as criminals..."

More African Americans will be killed.

It's about a simple end to a faulty juxtaposition.

And if we refuse to see the same problem for the same reason in both, all we will do is perpetuate a notion that will guarantee bloodshed in the years to come.