OF THE
TIMES
"Maybe it's because, as I sat in that back of that police car and heard the AHP officer learn the truth from his dispatcher - that the man he'd just captured at gunpoint and threatened to murder was totally innocent - I realized it was very possible that the only reason I was alive was because I am a scrawny 48-year-old white man wearing a Micky Mouse t-shirt and cargo shorts and hiking boots. The officer that arrested me was so pumped up on adrenaline and eager to get a "bad guy" that he could barely control himself, and if I'd looked just a little bit more threatening to him - because I was black, or young, or long-haired, or tattooed, or didn't speak English - I believe he might have pulled the trigger.
If you are a person who has ever looked skeptically [sic] at the claims of Black Lives Matter, or others who talk about police violence, I urge you to consider what happened to me and put yourselves in the shoes of others. I just survived a bizarre gunpoint situation in which I was as innocent as Philando Castile, who was not as lucky as I was. We live in a society where anywhere and everyone can have a gun at any time, and police are responding with fear in dangerous ways. I got lucky tonight. My daughter and I made it to the Grand Canyon and I'm going to try to salvage what's left of our vacation. Many others - because of the color of their skin or the way they look or because of simple bad luck - did not meet the same fate."
"The people against terrorism, and tyranny in their community is not a civil war. When you are speaking about civil war, you are talking about a country fighting against a country. This is oppressed people fighting against a racist, white supremacist police system. Which is meant to oppress a certain group of people. More than likely black people and poor people around the country."
"What you see is people lashing out and fighting against the system. As it is said in the Second Amendment, you know. So this is not new. The people in this country have always defended themselves against tyranny. So I can't liken this to a civil war. No it's not. Is it a war? Yes, it is. It's a war against black people because we're the ones being murdered. We're the ones being killed. So there's been a war against us. But is it a civil war? I can't say that that's the case."
Comment: See also: Study: Bullying as a child has a worse effect on mental health than parental abuse