Hands Up?

Twitter is a weird place.

I go there quite a bit. In fact, I never thought I'd be finding my news in 140-character stories. But when there is baseball news being reported I open up the little blue bird icon and search.

Of course there is plenty of other stuff on there.

Like porn, or social commentary, or porn, or sports editorials, or porn.

There are also about 740 photos of Kim Kardashian's ass.

The other night I was sifting through such drivel when I saw a photo of Michael Sam (the gay, unemployed football player) and Dave Chapelle (the extremely funny comedian). They were posing for the camera with their hands up in the air.

I get it, I suppose. They are black men and they are showing their support for the men who died when in confrontation with the police.

Yet, don't let the facts get in the way, right?

Listen...I know why people are protesting. I know why there are demonstrations by both the black and white all across the country. I was absolutely up in arms when Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. That still aggravates me, but did Michael Brown have his hands in the air?

Evidence seems to point elsewhere.

And in the death of Eric Garner in New York there also appeared to be circumstances that were a little different.

However.

I am a little lost on why the grand jury simply ends all discussion. Perhaps a trial would clear up all questions. People who do that sort of thing for a living made decisions that have proved to be wildly unpopular.

Yet the photo bugged me a little because it does spread a thought that has been denounced.

I can honestly say that I won't die at the hands of a policeman.

There are a few reasons I can be definitive about that.

1). I don't normally participate in illegal activities.

2). I am not targeted for anything because of my appearance.

3). If they wanted me to cooperate so they could cuff me I'd probably do so. I'm not a 'fight back' sort of person.

But it is about perspective.

There are folks who simply don't trust the police.

There are cops who feel differently about some of the neighborhoods they enter.

It's a complicated issue to be sure.

I feel for all of those who are hurt.

But I'm not sure that the discussion is being furthered by celebrities showing solidarity by posing inaccurately.

I do not think that either of the cops involved in recent events went on the street that day and thought: I want to murder an innocent black person today.

Have Chapelle and Sam been targeted?

Maybe.

But I'm scared by it all.

Will there be a black versus white race riot some day in the near future?

Will there be a war within the borders of our own country based on a failure to fully understand one another?

I didn't think so just a few months ago.

Now I'm just not sure.

Another thing for our kids to dread in a world gone mad.