Being Safe Matters

Up here at the Old Place, we know who we are, and generally how to stay out of trouble.  I have often said that it is not necessary to ask anyone’s opinion up here because we know each other so well.  This is why we find other people’s TV troubles, especially lawsuits so entertaining. They are our only real chance to argue with each other.  Of course, not having a dog in the fight tends to make those arguments more academic, but hey I’ve seen a bottle of 100-year-old Scotch change hands over a tabletop discussion! So when the Black Lives Matter folks got sued over the 2016 police shooting, out came the Scotch bottle and things got rolling pretty quick.

I started things off with this statement, "Purely from a safety standpoint, what did they think was going to happen?"  Roosevelt, our JAG lawyer reminded us that the law asks, “What would a Reasonable Person have expected to happen," and then asked, “When are violence and the fermenting of additional violence the likely outcome of an action?” Our retired Marine, Ruth was quick to cite the deaths of Bob Jones and Travon Martin, the assaults on Reginald Denny, and the riots in Ferguson. Our historian, Tim reminded everyone of the "peaceful outrage" over the removal of Confederate statues in New Orleans. The previous points were followed by several hypotheticals:  A Christian woman walks into a mosque and starts trying to save people.  Is she welcomed or thrown out?  An Auburn fan, waving his blue and orange, walks into Bryant-Denny Stadium for a 'Bama pep rally.  Welcomed or bodily thrown out?  I walk into the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. section at Daytona wearing my Jeff Gordon shirt. . . well I don't even want to think about it!  Some things you just don't do. By creating a group called, "Black Lives Matter" don't you automatically alienate all non-blacks?  To some, being alienated results in grumbling and FB rants, others start cleaning their guns.  (You will notice there are no groups called, "White Lives Matter, Native American Lives Matter or LGBT Lives Matter, and there damn sure isn't a group called, "Unborn Lives Matter!")  There is a general curiosity as to why they didn't call it, "African American Lives Matter or even "Colored Lives Matter?" The irony is, not even members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP like being referred to as "Colored."  It kind of reminds me of that Auburn fan.  Are Auburn fans, the Plainsmen or are they the War Eagles or are they the Tigers?  I am just an ignorant old Safety Man who long ago made peace with the world, but I am also a member of a brotherhood of folk who are experts on how to keep all folk from getting hurt. Please people, give one of us a call.

Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, I am Col. Jim.