Martin Luther King would be horrified by recent killings
The modern civil rights movement is more than 70 years old, and not one time in all those seven decades since Brown versus Board of Education did any responsible civil rights leader even hint at retaliation against police officers, much less countenance cold-blooded revenge killing. If Dr. Martin Luther King was alive today he would be beyond livid in his anger and shame and disgust with this kind of alleged retaliatory behavior. This kind of thing was exactly the opposite of every single thing Dr. King and the thousands, the hundreds of thousands, of men and women who walked in his path believed in. The very last thing our non-violent movement ever believed in was 'eye for an eye.' We are, we have always been, one thousand percent 'turn the other cheek.' Martin Luther King must be spinning in his grave. Medgar Evers is spinning in his grave. Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner are spinning in their graves. This is not who we are, and this is most definitely not what we stand for. We have martyrs in plenty, but one thing martyrs never, ever do, and that is pick up a rifle.
We always fight for justice, but we never, ever fight for revenge. That's just not what we do. And when it happens, in whatever twisted form it takes, we are as appalled as anyone else. Revenge killing of police is a terrible set-back for everything we stand for. Yes, our thought and prayers go out to the families of the deceased, and the families of those injured. But as some people have said, thoughts and prayers' aren't enough. We have to condemn these shootings in the strongest possible terms, and that's what I'm doing. That's what the Horry County Democratic Party is doing.
I’ve witnessed too much violence in my life to stay silent about this. I was born and raised in Philadelphia and served with the U.S. Army's 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam and earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After an extended recuperation period from injuries sustained during a firefight in that war, I went back to Philadelphia, became a mediator and community organizer and formed the Crisis Intervention Network, a city-funded group fighting gang violence and drugs.
I was also involved in trying to negotiate with Philadelphia's radical MOVE members and their neighbors in the weeks leading up to the May 13, 1985, bombing by the Philadelphia police of MOVE's headquarters in the Cobbs Creek section of West Philadelphia. That bombing by a police helicopter killed 11 people, including MOVE founder John Africa and 5 children, started a fire that destroyed 65 row houses, and became a touchstone in this country’s strained relationship between law enforcement and certain communities.
That’s why I know it is vitally important today to make sure cops and kids learn to respect one another, and respect the value of each other’s lives. It's civilians and law enforcement, faith-based organizations, opinion leaders and business leaders coming together to say enough is enough, let's work this stuff through without the senseless loss of life.
That’s why I’ve been working for more than a year, in a bipartisan fashion with long-time Republican activist John Bonsignor, to bring law enforcement and the community together, including an event Saturday in the North Myrtle Beach area that attracted more than 700 kids, their parents and area police officers and representatives. We are planning a similar event for the fall on the south end.
It is being designed to bring the community and law enforcement together to reinforce fairness, improve public morality, honesty, good temperament and mutual respect between our young people and our fine law enforcement professionals all over this region.
The writer is Horry County Democratic Party chairman and co-chair of the Grand Strand Community Law Enforcement Appreciation Committee
This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Martin Luther King would be horrified by recent killings."