Following the recent shootings of two black men by police officers, and just before the Dallas massacre of 5 police officers and wounding of others, came the following comments from Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”: …..“You know the hardest part of having a conversation surrounding police shootings in America? It always feels like in America, it’s like, if you take a stand for something, you automatically are against something else……If you (are) pro-Black Lives Matter you are assumed to be anti-police, and if you are pro-police then you surely hate black people. It seems like it’s either pro-cop and anti-black, or pro-black and anti-cop, when in reality, you can be pro-cop and pro-black. Which is what we should all be, what we should be aiming for…..You shouldn’t have to choose between the police and the citizens that they are sworn to protect.”
Amen! Why are so many things made to be all or nothing, one or the other? Yes, black lives matter, but all lives matter. Yes, there are some police officers that act irresponsibly, but so do some citizens. Not all police officers or all citizens are bad. Continue to offer the best training available to police officers, and get rid of the ones who do not meet necessary standards. Citizens, stop doing stupid and illegal things that force officers to make so many split second decisions. While causes such as Black Lives Matter bring needed attention to issues and hopefully force constructive dialogue, the downside is they often polarize people, creating an “us” versus “them” mentality. When will we come together and seek middle ground instead of choosing one side or the other? When will we learn to think “and” instead of “or”? When will common sense become more commonplace?