Every death is a tragedy.  Human life is precious, and its loss is something that should never be taken lightly.  But I am concerned that, as a nation, we are encouraging a reaction that makes things worse rather than better.  I know this is an emotionally-charged subject, and I would ask that you try to hear me out before ruling me out.

Death is Tragic

We’ve seen a number of news stories in recent months about black individuals shot to death by police.  These deaths are always tragic, whatever the situations that prompted them.  We all should grieve the loss of life.  In some cases, the skin color of the fallen is an unfortunate coincidence.  A criminal got himself killed through criminal activity, just like the three times as many white individuals who find themselves in the same situation.

The death is no less tragic, but there’s no reason to cast blame on officers who were simply doing their jobs.  On officers who need to be able to defend their lives and the lives of those around them against threats if they’re to do their jobs effectively.

Racially-Rooted Death is Doubly Tragic

Sometimes, these deaths have a truly racist undertone.  Someone is merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Or assumptions are made about an individual based on his skin color that would not have been made of someone else.  The tragedy here is compounded, the tragedy of racism being added to the already-tragic loss of life.  I don’t in any way intend to question that, negate it, or diminish it.

Are We Making it Better or Worse?

But having acknowledged that, let us also recognize another element of the situation.  Those racially-rooted murders, tragic as they are, are relatively small in number, spawned by the hatred of a relative few.  The reaction encouraged by our nation — especially via the media and social media — breeds hatred in thousands.  It encourages violence.  Is that really what we want?

We have lost more police officers than we have lost black men to police.  And yes, many of the officers were “hunted down.”  They are not more important, but they are as important, and many of those murders were the result of a hatred that we, the people, encouraged.  Is that really what we want?

Does it honor the deaths of those who were murdered out of hate to encourage the same kind of hate?  Does it honor them, in our anger over their having been seen through a stereotype, to create a situation where another group of people is viewed through a stereotype?  Does it honor the one who was killed for simply being who he was, to encourage the kind of hateful reaction that results in more men being killed for simply being who they are?

Sometimes race isn’t really a factor.  Sometimes it is.  If we react in a way that makes us like them, the racists have already won.