Dear Editor:
I’m going to write this in my own words. I won’t respond to comments, I’m not interested in a debate.
Innocent people have and continue to lose their lives for both the color of their skin and protesting those atrocities in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unfortunate continuation of a long line of American citizens cut down by a system that has utterly failed them.
Truly there are not enough words to capture all my feelings about this situation, but I’ll do my best to keep it simple. I am so very disappointed in a lot of people and in myself as we’ve continued to allow this problem to fester and build up instead of truly addressing it with compassion and understanding.
All my life, I’ve been surrounded by the teaching of Christ, teachings of love and acceptance and understanding of your neighbors. Now, as the world and our country, our states and our communities need it most, a lot of us want to answer the calls with criticism of the actions taken in the high emotions and feelings of being unheard.
I don’t know what the right answer is. I don’t know the best way for all of us to move forward together. What I do know is that if feelings of being unheard and treated differently than the people who you are supposedly united with could drive anyone to do just about anything to be heard, to be listened to and valued as a human being.
So, whether you agree with what is going on is not up to me. In all honesty, I don’t care what you believe about any other subject. But I want each and every single person who reads this thinking that the people protesting and rioting are all ‘criminals,’ I ask that you take a step back. Ask how you would feel watching a visual representation of how black Americans have felt for years. The establishment has had their knees on the metaphorical throat of black Americans for far longer than any of us have been around. The injustices and hatred they have faced the rest of us couldn’t possibly understand.
So just imagine for a second if this was your father or brother being killed in cold blood by someone who stood up and swore to protect the American citizens, because it is. It makes me angry to think that we have allowed this type of behavior to go on for so long. We are all human beings. We all have the capacity for understanding and fellowship or for unruly destruction. So I ask that the only judgement you pass be on those who have the power and done nothing to ensure that we all are treated with the same respect, dignity and love that we claim to provide.
No one is exempt from basic human rights and those who violate them should be held accountable. Every single person you see, on both sides, is just as human as you. I just hope you come down on the side of all of us being treated as such.
My final thought is that if you do not agree with anything I’ve said, please take it up with yourself or what you believe. I’m not interested in explaining why I think human life should be valued over property or the system that takes them.
#BlackLivesMatter
Sincerely,
Kyle Batt