Justice for Dontre Hamilton

Tonight my wife and I decided to watch one of our prerecorded movies on our DVR. Two struck our interest, one starring Matt Damon and one starring Bruce Willis. We both think of Matt Damon staring in thoughtful movies and Bruce Willis in violent and killing movies, so we choose the one with Matt Damon. After viewing the movie we both had the same thought: there could not have been anymore violence and killing in the Bruce Willis movie than in this Matt Damon movie.

I tried to stay sensitive to what I am seeing and hearing but in this movie I had to turn on the ‘desensitize’ switch to survive. People ask me at times why I care so much about victims of military reflex killing, drone attacks or victims of violence in the central city as much as we do about an hostage being tortured and killed by ISIS. All I can say is that all human life is valuable and dignified, before birth until death. If the person is black or white, good guy or bad guy, bombed from a plane or a victim of a suicide bomber the hurt and destruction of human life is just as awful and tragic.

An elderly African American man, who I knew from Church died last Saturday. This makes me sad and I will miss his smiling face and all his stories. When I heard on the news tonight that two persons were killed and shot on the Northwest side of Milwaukee tonight sorrow filled my heart, although they were not identified and I probably did not know them.

Killing is killing, be it by high flying plane or by a sword. It today’s world full of violence and killing we cannot be too sensitive to violent death or we would be immobilized. Yet all life is sacred we cannot accept senseless violence and war as normal. It is not normal to kill, even on orders of superior military commander. Violence breeds violence, “you kill our guy we kill our guy”.

If face of such senseless violence and killing I get angry. I know that is not the best nonviolent response. But if I do not get angry at violence and killing I will become immune and desensitize to it, something I do not want to be.

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