9-27-20 Unpacking the Breonna Taylor Decision

Daily Jot: Unpacking the Breonna Taylor decision - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com Riots have broken out across the country over the decision by a grand jury to not indict the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman, in her Louisville, KY apartment. The Black community is angry that justice wasn't done. The Black Lives Matter organization and Antifa protestors are using the occasion to create violence. Two Louisville police officers were shot. Fires have been started. Rioters have attacked police who were trying to put out the fires. In Brooklyn Center, MN, rioters set ablaze a home that had a Trump sign in the yard, spray painting "BLM", "Biden 2020" and the Antifa "A" with a circle around it. Democrats have become the face of violence and revolt in America. The slogan, "Say Her Name" is regularly used to signal to and rally protesters against police. Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, instead of condemning the violence, spurred it on with a tweet: "We must continue to speak Breonna Taylor's name, support her family still in grieving, and never give up on ensuring the full promise of America for every American." Biden's running mate Kamala Harris tweeted: "We must never stop speaking Breonna's name as we work to reform our justice system, including overhauling no-knock warrants." President Trump expressed prayers and concern for the two officers that were shot and responded, "My message is I love the black community." It appears to me that we have Marxists wanting rebellion and violence. Democrats wanting to get Trump out of office any way they can. The news media wanting a good fight. And all of them are blaming Trump for the lack of justice for Breonna Taylor. This is about the law, not the presidency. President Trump already has issued a very strong Executive Order on police reform; signed the First Step Act on criminal justice reform; and he has reversed many of the minimum sentence, bail policies and illegal evidence usage that Biden ardently supported when President Bill Clinton signed his infamous crime bill into law. The result of that bill has disproportionately and unfairly impacted the black community. The narrative on Breonna Taylor appears to be far from the facts that the grand jury used in its decision. Police had been granted a "No Knock" warrant prior to the raid on Taylor's apartment. No such warrant, however, was used the day Taylor died. Instead, the ballistics report indicated, and an independent eyewitness, and Taylor's boyfriend (who opened fire on the police, causing them to defend themselves and resulting in Taylor's death) testified that both officers knocked and announced their presence at the apartment. This is hugely different than police officers barging into an apartment in the middle of the night and opening fire. According to court documents, that narrative is false. Martin Luther King, Jr. said there were four steps to addressing racial problems of injustice: 1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; 2) Negotiation; 3) Self-purification; and 4) Direct action. Basing a discussion on a perceived event, or an emotionally driven viewpoint rather than respectfully discussing the facts gets in the way of determining whether an injustice exists. Integrity and respect for one another is the foundation for achieving lasting results. Our leaders should act to calm the emotions, get the facts, repent of any ungodly motives, and then take action to correct injustices. OR we will continuously have an Isaiah 59:14 moment: "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter."