Opinion: This is America, isn't it?

Richard J. Heakin Jr. was a gay man who was visiting Tucson from Nebraska. On June 6, 1976, the 21-year-old was attacked and killed by four teenagers while leaving a bar near downtown. The 15- to 17-year-old killers received only probation for what was termed a hate crime.

This event took place when I was 15, and I remember how horrified I was that boys my age would go out of their way to stalk individuals for the purpose of harming them. And then to cause the death of a person, simply because they did not agree or like his lifestyle?

From all I have been able to find out, these boys did not have to face any punishment for their senseless act of violence: Had to stay at home, have a curfew, and finish high school.

Wow.

Really?

Like most of my friends in high school we had to follow these same guidelines, without committing a crime.

A few days ago, our nation was outraged (again) when another man (of African-American descent) suffered an excruciating and senseless death, in front of a crowd, at the hands of four police officers. For eight minutes, a man who has sworn to “protect and serve” for reasons unknown at this time, had George Floyd on the ground, handcuffed from the back, with his knee on his neck. Despite three other officers watching, and the numerous people watching, filming, no one stopped it. The man died.

Our nation is once again outraged. The Minneapolis mayor has asked for the officers to be arrested, that their actions were unconscionable.

Duh!

And the city of Minneapolis is reacting out in anger and rage and creating a terrible environment that is dangerous to not just our police officers, but damaging stores by looting them, starting fires, and tearing up their own city.

Why do we react this way? Because we are hurt, and angry and confused. We do not know what to do about the injustice we are seeing especially over the last few years.

The “Black Lives Matter” crusade tried to bring to the forefront that people of color were being targeted unfairly, with serious harm inflicted.

As a woman of color, I am grieved by the hatred and racism I see being perpetuated in my country. As a woman of color, I am outraged when people that I am supposed to be able to trust to protect me, treat people of color with disdain and hatred.

I do not understand where the need for excessive force has become a way for them to protect us.

I get nervous myself if I am by myself and a police officer starts to approach me. I worry about both of my sons and advise them to try to always maintain a sense of submission when dealing with a policeman, because I just don’t know what could happen to them, being in the right place at the wrong time.

My sons are successful black men, living in affluent neighborhoods, and have been stopped and questioned, just because they seem “out of place.”

This is America, isn’t it? Where we all have inalienable rights. Don’t we have the right to be treated with respect and dignity, no matter the color of our skin, our religious preference, our gender, our “difference” from the norm?

It is not just that black lives matter, but all life should matter to us as Americans, as people, and especially as Christians.

Just saying …

Bonetta Hutson is an associate pastor at the Living Word Church of God. Contact her at:

[email protected]