As red and blue lights flashed outside my neighborhood last night, I experienced a moment of reassurance and relief. Protests in Riverside have gotten out of hand, and you can feel the tension in our diverse community. Right now I’m so grateful for the men and women who stand guard over our community to ensure the protection of my family and property, even at the risk of their safety, and potentially their lives.
#BlackLivesMatter calls for the defunding of the police and spreads an unsubstantiated narrative that unbiassed statistics and facts don’t support. Do black lives matter to me? Absolutely. Do the injustices of abortion, racism, sex trafficking, human slavery, corruption, police brutality, and so many other horrific realities break my heart? Daily. But I can never give my support to an organization that promotes victimhood and unjustly villainizes over 700,000 self-sacrificing people that wear the blue uniform with an unwavering commitment to protecting their communities regardless of the color, socio-economic status, religion, or background of the people they safeguard. Are all cops good? Of course not. Is there police corruption that demands accountability and justice? Most definitely. The reality is that there are wicked people everywhere, of every race, and every profession that should all be held accountable for their horrendous actions. But to insight hatred and merciless anger from one group towards another is neither just nor honoring to God, yet that seems to be what #BlackLivesMatter has been most influential in accomplishing. Ask the families of black police officers David Dorn and Patrick Underwood where Black Lives Matter is to speak up for their tragic losses.
Today I stand in solidarity with all who suffer injustice and pray for a church that will be bold enough to rise above the cultural narrative and carry the truth of Jesus into every place they go and to every person they meet without partiality.