To Those Who Continue to Incite Violence and Racial Tension in Ferguson:
I grew up in a home where I was not taught to hate. Instead, I was taught that people of every color, nation, and creed were created by God as equals in their humanity and worth. Ever since I became a parent in 2002, I have endeavored to instill those same lessons in my children. Some days it has been more difficult than others.
For the last few months, nearly every action you have taken in the name of “equality” and “justice” has made my job immeasurably harder.
You have defied law enforcement and defiled both public and private property, leaving me to explain to my children that “not all black people riot, throw things at police officers, and loot private businesses when they don't get their way.”
You have screamed that “black lives matter” (a point with which I absolutely agree, by the way) while demanding the arrest and conviction – and in some cases, the death – of a white police officer based solely on the testimony of an admitted liar and with no supporting physical evidence, leaving me to explain to my children that “not all black people believe that saying 'black lives matter' necessarily invalidates the worth of a white man's life.”
You have encouraged a culture that will demonize my twelve year old son for no reason other than the fact that he was born a white male in America. You have forced me to explain to him that there are some black people who will feel entitled to punish him for things he has never done and for things he will never do – and you have forced me to teach him that, in spite of that, he cannot paint all black people with the brush you have chosen for yourselves.
You have made him uncomfortably aware that there are those select few who will make him the villain in every social situation because it allows them to perpetuate the cult of victimization. The default position will always be that he is a racist and a sexist until he proves otherwise, and because he is a white male, any proof he offers will be summarily dismissed.
You have made my job harder, but thankfully I am up to the task. There are those who are not, however, and your actions will serve only to deepen their feelings of racial prejudice and anger.
Think hard before you allow your actions make Ferguson an example of what you claim to be trying to overcome.
