Sunday, September 19, 2010

Can We All Just Get Along?

These were the famous words of Rodney King in 1992 after the Los Angeles riots. As you may know, Mr. King was the victim of a vicious act of police brutality that was caught on tape. The officers that were involved were later tried and acquitted by an all white jury.

The verdict brought outrage to millions of African Americans across the country and resulted in one of the deadliest riots in the history of Los Angeles. There were 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires and the damage or loss of more than 3,100 businesses.

That was one of the darkest periods in the history of our nation. But the darkness has not subsided in this country. All across America, thousands of young men are being gunned down on the streets of our cities. The sound of gunfire is all too common in many of our communities. There are more gangs in this country than there are religious denominations.

What is our response? What is the church doing? What are the community leaders and politicians doing? More importantly, what are the parents and the people in our communities doing? We are the ones that are affected the most. It is our sons that are being stuffed into body bags every night. It is our children that cannot play in front of their homes. It is our seniors that are afraid to sit on their porches.

Instead of standing up and taking back our communities, we have bought into the philosophy of the streets, “Quit Snitchin.” We have become a society of people that are afraid to get involved. Therefore, our communities are suffering and our children are being carried off to cemeteries and penitentiaries.

When I was a child, there was a public service announcement that came on television every night. It said, “It is 10:30. Do you know where your children are?” But now, night after night, many of our children are wondering where their parents are.

I started this message with the words of Rodney King, “Can we all just get along?” I want to end it with the words of another man whose last name was King. In a speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted the Irish political philosopher, Edmond Burke by saying, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

My question is simple. What are you doing?




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Love you all,
Rev. Burton Barr Jr. (Author of "He's Only A Prayer Away", "The Hoodlum Preacher" and "Amazing Grace: The Storm Is Passing Over") & Cedric Mixon

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