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I’m a white woman, 50 years old and have a black granddaughter. I’ve raised my 2 daughters in a mostly black neighborhood all their lives due to financial problems, (sometimes living in shelters in the ghetto). I’ve seen so much crime where I live and of course, being in a black neighborhood, it’s black people that I see do these unspeakable crimes.
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Contrary to this, as a child I grew up in a mostly white neighborhood and there I saw white people committing their share of unspeakable crimes as well. So one might expect me not be racist, but sadly, there have been times during my anger which I’ve succumbed to racism and I’m not proud of it.
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These recent killings against young black men have shown me that sadly, black people are automatically assumed to be a threat, especially by some police officers who have a quick trigger finger, shooting and asking question’s later.
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My brother, and my son are police officers and I’d like them to know that I’m not ‘turning my back on them’ because there truly are some excellent police officers in this world and these bad officers don’t represent all police. Just as a few bad black men don’t represent all blacks. The same goes for whites and Muslims. Just because some bad apples of one race is doing something wrong doesn’t mean that particular race should be victimized in its entirety. Not all black people are criminals, not all Muslims are terrorists and not all police are racist.
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I do believe that all lives matter, because they do, but this movement of “Black Lives Matter” I see ALL races joining together to try and put a stop to the killing which needs to be addressed immediately before we lose anymore innocent people. This is a crisis which has been escalating quickly with no end in sight. Something must be done before we lose more innocent black lives.
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Nobody is perfect, and some of the men who were recently killed aren’t perfect either, but to end someone’s life because of the color of their skin is wrong. It’s as if we live in a third world country!
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I always thought police officers were an example for our communities. They were a force to look up to and admire, that goes for when I lived in the ghetto as well as when I lived in a white neighborhood. Little children used to look at a police officer as a role model, a source of safety and security but more and more I’m realizing that police are human beings who are also subject to being racist. That’s a dangerous combination to have an officer with a gun who has a racist view on life.
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I thank God that my brother and my son are not racist people but am scared about the officers who are still out there undetected. The officers that have hatred for certain races, religions and skin colors. There’s no way to know who they are. That’s a scary thing.
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I feel great compassion for the innocent black men who just want to go out for a simple ride with their family never knowing if they too will become a victim. Never knowing if their life will end that night. If they’ll be able to tuck their child into bed that evening or wake up to see the sun shining the next morning. Things we take for granted, they cannot afford to, not by any means.
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I’ve seen my share of shootings and even murders living where I’ve lived and it never gets any easier to see us killing one another, but when we can’t be assured that our police officers are here to protect us, then we all live in fear, especially black families.
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My hearts goes out to the families of these recent killings. It’s brought me to tears and I feel helpless. I feel helpless to know that the good police in our world will be stereotyped because of the bad police. I feel helpless for the black men of this world who will be stereotyped because of the bad blacks and I feel helpless for the innocent Muslims who are being stereotyped because of the radical Islamists.
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I wish I knew the answer to solve everything, but I don’t. I DO think our world is falling apart and it scares me. So much violence, so little love and understanding of one another. That includes me. It’s so easy to lump certain people into one category but it’s absolutely unfair.
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We need more psychiatric screening for our police. We need to try and understand each other better. We need more love in this world and less violence. It all sounds good as I preach to you now, but unfortunately I just don’t see it happening anytime soon.
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All I can do is pray that things will change. I pray every night for our world to become a place we can feel safe.
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I hope all who read this realize that the problems of this present world is obviously beyond what one person can correct. We need more prayer for peace. We need to be more united, we need less stereotyping, less violence and more understanding and love. God must be looking down with such sadness. This world he gave us, once so beautiful, is slipping through our fingers. We are destroying each other and we’re destroying this planet.
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Most of all, I feel bad for our children who are watching us destroy one another. They’re impressionable and they see and absorb everything that is going on. What are we teaching them?
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I’m ashamed I’ve been racist at times and see how important it is for me to change. That goes for everyone else out there who knows, (but have not admitted), that they too suffer from stereotyping and it’s never too late to change. Like that song from Michael Jackson, ‘Man In The Mirror’, it has to start with each individual person. Nobody is excluded. Not the police, nor the blacks, nor the whites, the president, the pope, there’s nobody on this planet that is exempt from making changes because none of us including those named above, are perfect. We all can take a look in the mirror and change at the very least, for our children, our children’s children and generations to come.
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Sending out major love and condolences for all the families who have suffered from this violence. My heart goes out to you and I pray you’ll receive the justice you so very much deserve.
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Very sincerely,
Bonnie
MJ-Upbeat
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PS- I’d like to ask the media and others to stop attacking Prince Jackson. He’s a young man who is trying desperately to understand what’s going on in this world. He’s still learning and unfortunately, like his father, his every tweet, every feeling and every comment is grabbed by the media and unfortunately he becomes a perfect target to attack. I know he has a beautiful heart and means no harm to anyone. His message is LOVE. Just like his dad.
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UPDATE: Just got words of the shooting of innocent police in Dallas. What?!! This is the problem. Retaliation & violence against anyone because we’re upset doesn’t solve anything. Those officers were NOT the cops who committed these recent killings of those black men who were killed. We’re taking it out on a broad spectrum of innocent people to get vengeance. It’s just as bad as when the officers killed the innocent black men. It does NOTHING to help, solve or better anything. It just fuels the fire of stereotyping groups based on a few bad people.
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#BlackLivesMatter
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Thank you for visiting MJ-Upbeat.com! (Since 2003)
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