A short update to my ‘Grand Jury’ article

I received a lot of replies and feedback to my article yesterday about the grand jury indictment in the Breonna Taylor killing. I stand by everything that I said.  However, several of your replies helped me see that I communicated poorly.  I left the door open to confusion and criticism.

I feel the need to provide a little bit more context in order to better communicate an important relationship in all human society. I didn’t do a good job of explaining the relationship between peace and justice in the human heart.

For starters, I’ll say it again- I’m no expert in the law. Therefore, I have no right to speak about the indictment and whether or not it was just. Forgive me for giving the impression that I have some legal expertise. Second, I almost never watch popular news media. That’s why I didn’t include any of the conditions of the Breonna Taylor killing in my article.

I intentionally do not watch the news. Therefore, I wasn’t aware of a “no knock” warrant or who shot first.  It wasn’t my intent to discuss the situation on the night of Breonna’s death.

Let me now explain the title of my article… My title implied that a bomb was ready to go off in cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia and DC.  This grand jury verdict just lit a fuse that already existed.  My article was an attempt to answer the question- Why would people protest in Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, and Atlanta GA?

I was trying to explain something about the human condition that would prompt people in these three cities to be so upset by the results of this grand jury indictment. I was trying to establish the connection in the human heart between justice and peace.

Finally, it was not my intention to argue whether or not justice was served in this inditement. Justice, real or perceived, is essential to peace. The thesis of my article is – With injustice (real or perceived) comes a loss of peace.  We all belong to a common human race. Therefore, all people have a fundamental desire for justice and peace regardless of where they live.

When the news reports a “perception” of injustice in one city, people feel this loss in their city also.  Because justice is supposed to be universally fair, when people feel a sense of injustice (whether real or perceived), it damages the fragile peace of a society.

Conflict and violence are often the result of a lack of peace is a society. Although my article could have been written better, I was attempting to explain why people would react with such aggravation in cities hundreds of miles away from this court case.

Because I care deeply about this country, it is my fervent prayer that the results of the Breonna Taylor inditement, and the results of the George Floyd case, don’t lead to race riots like the city of Los Angeles experienced after the Rodney King verdict!