The other morning MK and I were doing our morning devotions and it became very evident that we are in the middle of a storm. Violent protests, cops shooting citizens, citizens shooting cops, thefts, defacing property, destroying statues.
This isn’t new. I’ve seen it before.
The sad thing is that much of this happens during good times as well as bad times. Remember when the Bulls won the NBA Championship?
JUNE 22, 1993 12 AM
ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO — “As seen in the L.A. Times”
For the third consecutive year, violence marred celebrations that broke out when the Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship. Two people were killed and nearly 700 arrested as the city sent thousands of extra police into the streets.
Random gunfire was heard across the city late Sunday and early Monday after the Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns, 99-98, to win their third consecutive title.
Said Mayor Richard M. Daley: “There’s thugs and there’s criminals.
At one intersection, a crowd pulled drivers from their cars, shot one man to death and stabbed another.
But this wasn’t the first time for me. In 1968, I was a 14-year-old freshman. My father had died of a heart attack several months before. We lived just 90 miles away. Here is what happened according to the Google machine:
The Democratic Convention of 1968 was held August 26-29 in Chicago, Illinois. As delegates flowed into the International Amphitheatre to nominate a Democratic Party presidential candidate, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed the streets to rally against the Vietnam War and the political status quo.
By the time Vice President Herbert Humphrey received the presidential nomination, the strife within the Democratic Party was laid bare and the streets of Chicago had seen riots and bloodshed involving protesters, police and bystanders alike, radically changing America’s political and social landscape.
My favorite city, Chicago. More from the Google machine with events from last week:
In 1968, Thomas Morris rioted on Chicago's West Side after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Morris has lived in the area his entire life. On Monday morning, he walked down Madison Street near Pulaski Avenue, checking out the damage that had been done over the weekend.
Now, five decades older, Morris laments the recent destruction. But he still understands it.
"It seems like for us to get any attention, we have to do wrong," Morris said. "It's just systemic racism in America. ... And this has to change, and we have to do things to be fair."
The stretch of the West Garfield Park neighborhood where Morris has lived all his life was badly damaged by vandalism, looting and arson over the weekend. Madison, one of the hardest-hit streets during the riots in 1968, was marked with signs of the chaos that started Sunday and was still lingering into Monday morning.
I thought back to a Paul Harvey radio show I started listening to when I was 14. He was my favorite. As the years when on I always listened to him at 7:55 a.m. and again from noon to 12:15. I loved Paul Harvey! This is one of his commentaries, circa 40 years ago plus. It was recognized as one of his best speeches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ1YsyZMaaU
Mr. Harvey's father inspired this speech. He was a police officer who was shot and killed while doing what police officers do every day. The text to the speech is included in the video.
What brought me to think about this was the story about the Las Vegas Policeman, Shay Mikalonis, only 29 years old.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A police officer who was shot in the head during a Las Vegas Strip protest of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis is paralyzed from the neck down, on a ventilator and unable to speak, his family said in a statement released by police.
Officer Shay Mikalonis, 29, was shot June 1 during protests over the death of Floyd at the hands of police. The family statement released on twitter by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Saturday said he is expected to stay on the ventilator. He has been tentatively accepted at a spine rehabilitation center.
This one hits home for us. MK’s nephew and godson is also a police officer in Las Vegas. He trained officer Mikalonis.
I’ve not seen any protests about police officers being shot. If I didn’t know this story as well, I wouldn’t have found this in the media these days:
(CNN) A St. Louis man has been charged with murder in the death of retired St. Louis police officer David Dorn, who was shot during a pawn shop burglary in last week's protests in the city.
Stephan Cannon, 24, of St. Louis was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said in a statement released on Twitter Sunday.
No bond is allowed for Cannon, Gardner said.
Dorn, 77, was killed when he responded to an alarm at the pawnshop during the early morning hours of June 2, the St. Louis Police Department said last week. The retired officer was providing security for the store. About 55 businesses in the city were burglarized and had property damage that night, city Police Chief John Hayden told reporters last week.
Again, I’ve not seen any stories about people protesting his death. Any news about his widow or his family.
The storm we are going through isn’t new.
It truly isn’t about a pandemic, a basketball team, the death of a man by the hands of a cop or the death of a cop by the hands of a thug. It is about people who have no respect for each other, property or the law. All we can do is pray for them.
In our devotions we listened to the song by Casting Crowns, Praise you in this Storm: “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgpaULjZOl8
The words hit home during this storm. Words such as: ”As the thunder rolls I can barely hear you voice whisper through the rain I’m with you.”
When we feel helpless, let's remember this. It will put things into perspective for each of us. Sad, yet puts things in perspective for each of us. We all just need to remember that our Lord is in control.
Though my heart is torn I will praise you in the storm -
Mark Hall & Casting Crowns
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