Throughout history, protesting has helped America make great strides. One of the greatest being Martin Luther King Jr., who led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s.
Since that time, people have been using peaceful protest strategies to make a difference in the world and to stand up for what they believe in.
My question is, when did protesting turn to such violence? With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the anti-police mentality, along with such a strange and heated election year, we have seen America crumble before our eyes.
So quickly it went from peaceful protests to burning buildings down and shooting police officers in cold blood. The problem is, no one will look at anything as a whole.
Those on the side of the Black Lives Matter movement will never see a police officer for what he or she really is. A mother. A father. A wife. A husband. A son or daughter. They are people with a purpose other than what critics see.
On the other hand, those who despise the Black Lives Matter movement do not see the individuals who were fatally shot by police officers as people who were loved. People who came from mothers and fathers. Those who were brothers, sisters, and even friends.
The issue with society today is when we find a group that is standing up for something we do not believe in, we turn it into hate. Not hate for the belief itself, but hate for the individual.
Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted saying, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
When I turn on the news today, I see hate. Strong hate. Police officers being shot, buildings being burned, civilians being treated more unfairly than ever before. It is sickening.
It does not seem to matter anymore that King, one of the — if not the greatest — leaders of equality protests of all time, was shot for standing up for the rights of African-Americans.
He is now being mocked by the violence and irresponsible behavior of current protestors and the way they are going about things. If he were still here today, I do not believe things would be so out of hand.
When protesting can return to peace and when individuals can stop hating a person rather than a personal or political belief, then the world might go back to the way it was before.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
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