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This was shared with me and is worth passing on.
************
- Clayton Wood
- Minneapolis at a Crossroad -
Before we talk about immigration, borders, or enforcement, we need to talk about something more basic.
Two people are dead.
Families are grieving.
And the road this country is choosing right now does not lead to justice.
It leads to ruin.
Renée Good.
Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse.
Those are not abstractions.
Those are human beings made in the image of God.
Scripture does not allow us to treat death as political theater.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
Whatever your views on immigration, law enforcement, or federal authority, two deaths demand sobriety, not slogans.
But what has followed has been almost as disturbing as the shootings themselves.
Within hours, the narratives were set.
Not facts.
Narratives.
On one side, ICE as villains hunting children and peaceful citizens.
On the other side, ICE as flawless heroes and protesters as animals who deserve whatever happens.
Both of those are lies.
And lies are how societies lose their way.
Before we go further, I need to say something very directly to my fellow Christians and to anyone who cares about the health of this country.
The algorithm feeds outrage.
It rewards anger.
It rewards fear.
It rewards mockery.
It rewards certainty without evidence.
I have watched people say, “I don’t know much about this, but I will delete you if you are for X or Y or Z.”
That is a horrible posture.
Creating self reinforcing silos of people who agree with you even when you are spreading misinformation and propaganda is horrible for you and horrible for our country.
Today I spoke with an intelligent friend who was upset about the shooting.
He brought up a previous case and repeated false propaganda.
How did that happen to my intelligent friend?
He cared enough to skim the headlines.
He did not care enough to dive deeply into the case.
The lie was widely believed, like “hands up don’t shoot,” and the truth was less known.
This is how decent people become misinformed.
You do not have to care deeply about every case.
I would urge you to love your family.
Have some hot chocolate.
Pray for those who are hurting.
But if you care enough to post, please care enough to read.
Christians have a special obligation here.
We are called to speak the truth in love.
That requires us to hate deceit.
But it also requires us to hate mockery.
To hate belittling.
To hate joy in another person’s harm.
If we cannot hold truth and charity together, we are not peacemakers.
We are part of the problem.
Now back to Minneapolis.
One of the most destructive lies circulating right now is the claim that ICE arrested a five year old boy.
That story went everywhere.
Shared thousands of times.
Used to inflame anger.
Used to justify outrage.
Used to stir crowds.
And it was false.
What actually happened was that a frightened father fled from federal agents and abandoned his five year old son in the chaos.
ICE did not arrest the child.
They took custody of a terrified boy who had been left alone.
That does not make enforcement gentle.
It does not make the system good.
But it matters deeply that a lie replaced the truth.
And Scripture is explicit.
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.”
Proverbs 12:22
False witness is not activism.
It is sin.
And in moments like this, it is not harmless.
It gets people hurt.
Now let me speak personally for a moment.
As an attorney, I know far more than most citizens about use of force law and about what is legal and what is excessive and what is criminal.
And I will not pretend to know what happened in these cases when the facts are still unclear.
In the chaotic videos circulating yesterday, I honestly could not even tell at first who the officers were and who the protesters were.
Who tackled whom.
Who escalated.
Who was resisting.
Who was identifying themselves.
And that matters.
Because use of force cases turn on seconds, angles, perceptions, and threats that almost never show up clearly on video.
I also know something else from personal experience.
Situations like this are extraordinarily dangerous.
Years ago, I intervened in what I believed was an assault in progress in a Walmart parking lot.
A large man attacking a woman.
She was screaming for help.
Everything in my instincts said intervene.
Only later did I realize it was an undercover officer making an arrest in a shoplifting ring.
His lack of visible identification made the situation more dangerous for him, for her, and for me.
In clouds of tear gas, in crowds, in chaos, visible identification matters.
Uniforms matter.
Clear authority matters.
Because confusion gets people killed.
And shame on the politicians who are making this worse.
Throwing rhetoric into volatile situations.
Encouraging obstruction.
Defying federal law openly.
Inflaming crowds.
Pouring gasoline on fires they will never have to stand in front of.
This is reckless.
And it is already costing lives.
Now let me say something that will make both sides uncomfortable.
The binary being offered to you right now is dishonest.
ICE are the bad guys.
ICE are the good guys.
Both of those are propaganda designed to make people stop thinking.
Yes, in one sense every human institution is fallen.
Every agent is a sinner.
Every system is imperfect.
But it is morally unserious to say ICE is simply evil.
When federal agents remove a convicted rapist from a community, they are not the bad guys.
When they disrupt gangs selling fentanyl and save thousands of lives, they are not the bad guys.
At the same time, it is equally dishonest to pretend every agent is perfectly trained, restrained, and always right.
Some officers are careful, professional, and courageous.
Some appear militarized, abrasive, and poorly trained.
Both exist.
And both are now operating in a far more dangerous environment because of failures far upstream.
The federal presence in Minneapolis did not arise in a vacuum.
It arose because the local and state systems failed.
I wrote less than two months ago right here on Facebook about what is happening in Minnesota.
A twice convicted rapist named Abdimahat Bille Mohamed kidnapped a woman, held her captive for days, and attacked her again.
He had already harmed an adult.
He had already harmed a child.
He served zero jail time.
Zero.
Two attacks.
One victim a minor.
And Minnesota still released him.
That woman is now living through a nightmare that never should have been possible.
That is not a mistake.
That is not a loophole.
That is the result of a worldview.
A worldview that treats punishment as the real problem.
That treats violent men as misunderstood victims.
That releases predators and then acts shocked when predators do what predators do.
Minnesota is becoming a warning to the entire country.
Gut your justice system and women pay the price.
Elevate ideology over safety and families are destroyed.
Refuse to punish violent men and you guarantee more victims.
And now the same political leadership that would not jail rapists is lecturing the nation about justice.
This is incoherence.
And incoherence produces exactly what we are watching now.
Fear.
Chaos.
Violence.
Narrative warfare.
And let me add something else that matters.
Minneapolis is also the city where Justine Damond was shot to death in 2017.
She was unarmed.
She was not protesting.
She was not resisting arrest.
She called to report a crime.
The officer responded and shot her as she approached his squad car.
And that officer is now released.
This city has been living with deep wounds and broken trust for a long time.
Long before George Floyd.
Long before this week.
And a great deal of what we are watching now flows directly from the same leadership choices and the same political culture.
Scripture could not be clearer.
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”
Proverbs 18:17
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9
“Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
James 1:19
God hates unequal weights and measures.
He hates selective justice.
He hates double standards.
And sadly, it often seems that Minneapolis loves them.
We are being discipled right now.
Toward hatred.
Toward dehumanization.
Toward civil conflict.
Toward the lie that violence will purify politics.
It will not.
Civil conflict is not heroic.
It is not cinematic.
It is fast.
It is brutal.
And it destroys the innocent first.
If you care about immigrants, do not spread lies that get people killed.
If you care about law enforcement, do not celebrate death.
If you care about justice, do not inflame crowds with propaganda.
If you care about this country, demand truth before outrage.
This immigration series exists for one reason.
Not to pick teams.
Not to score points.
Not to go viral.
But to try, slowly and carefully, to build a system that holds law and mercy together without tearing the country apart.
We cannot do that if we abandon truth.
We cannot do that if we turn neighbors into enemies.
We cannot do that if we train ourselves to hate.
So let me say this as plainly as I know how.
Pray for the families of the dead.
Pray for the officers.
Pray for the protesters.
Pray for our leaders.
Refuse lies.
Refuse hatred.
Refuse to cheer for blood.
Because the road we are choosing right now does not lead to justice.
It leads to ruin.
And Scripture has warned us about this road for thousands of years.
“Seek peace and pursue it.”
Psalm 34:14
************
- Clayton Wood
- Minneapolis at a Crossroad -
Before we talk about immigration, borders, or enforcement, we need to talk about something more basic.
Two people are dead.
Families are grieving.
And the road this country is choosing right now does not lead to justice.
It leads to ruin.
Renée Good.
Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse.
Those are not abstractions.
Those are human beings made in the image of God.
Scripture does not allow us to treat death as political theater.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
Whatever your views on immigration, law enforcement, or federal authority, two deaths demand sobriety, not slogans.
But what has followed has been almost as disturbing as the shootings themselves.
Within hours, the narratives were set.
Not facts.
Narratives.
On one side, ICE as villains hunting children and peaceful citizens.
On the other side, ICE as flawless heroes and protesters as animals who deserve whatever happens.
Both of those are lies.
And lies are how societies lose their way.
Before we go further, I need to say something very directly to my fellow Christians and to anyone who cares about the health of this country.
The algorithm feeds outrage.
It rewards anger.
It rewards fear.
It rewards mockery.
It rewards certainty without evidence.
I have watched people say, “I don’t know much about this, but I will delete you if you are for X or Y or Z.”
That is a horrible posture.
Creating self reinforcing silos of people who agree with you even when you are spreading misinformation and propaganda is horrible for you and horrible for our country.
Today I spoke with an intelligent friend who was upset about the shooting.
He brought up a previous case and repeated false propaganda.
How did that happen to my intelligent friend?
He cared enough to skim the headlines.
He did not care enough to dive deeply into the case.
The lie was widely believed, like “hands up don’t shoot,” and the truth was less known.
This is how decent people become misinformed.
You do not have to care deeply about every case.
I would urge you to love your family.
Have some hot chocolate.
Pray for those who are hurting.
But if you care enough to post, please care enough to read.
Christians have a special obligation here.
We are called to speak the truth in love.
That requires us to hate deceit.
But it also requires us to hate mockery.
To hate belittling.
To hate joy in another person’s harm.
If we cannot hold truth and charity together, we are not peacemakers.
We are part of the problem.
Now back to Minneapolis.
One of the most destructive lies circulating right now is the claim that ICE arrested a five year old boy.
That story went everywhere.
Shared thousands of times.
Used to inflame anger.
Used to justify outrage.
Used to stir crowds.
And it was false.
What actually happened was that a frightened father fled from federal agents and abandoned his five year old son in the chaos.
ICE did not arrest the child.
They took custody of a terrified boy who had been left alone.
That does not make enforcement gentle.
It does not make the system good.
But it matters deeply that a lie replaced the truth.
And Scripture is explicit.
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.”
Proverbs 12:22
False witness is not activism.
It is sin.
And in moments like this, it is not harmless.
It gets people hurt.
Now let me speak personally for a moment.
As an attorney, I know far more than most citizens about use of force law and about what is legal and what is excessive and what is criminal.
And I will not pretend to know what happened in these cases when the facts are still unclear.
In the chaotic videos circulating yesterday, I honestly could not even tell at first who the officers were and who the protesters were.
Who tackled whom.
Who escalated.
Who was resisting.
Who was identifying themselves.
And that matters.
Because use of force cases turn on seconds, angles, perceptions, and threats that almost never show up clearly on video.
I also know something else from personal experience.
Situations like this are extraordinarily dangerous.
Years ago, I intervened in what I believed was an assault in progress in a Walmart parking lot.
A large man attacking a woman.
She was screaming for help.
Everything in my instincts said intervene.
Only later did I realize it was an undercover officer making an arrest in a shoplifting ring.
His lack of visible identification made the situation more dangerous for him, for her, and for me.
In clouds of tear gas, in crowds, in chaos, visible identification matters.
Uniforms matter.
Clear authority matters.
Because confusion gets people killed.
And shame on the politicians who are making this worse.
Throwing rhetoric into volatile situations.
Encouraging obstruction.
Defying federal law openly.
Inflaming crowds.
Pouring gasoline on fires they will never have to stand in front of.
This is reckless.
And it is already costing lives.
Now let me say something that will make both sides uncomfortable.
The binary being offered to you right now is dishonest.
ICE are the bad guys.
ICE are the good guys.
Both of those are propaganda designed to make people stop thinking.
Yes, in one sense every human institution is fallen.
Every agent is a sinner.
Every system is imperfect.
But it is morally unserious to say ICE is simply evil.
When federal agents remove a convicted rapist from a community, they are not the bad guys.
When they disrupt gangs selling fentanyl and save thousands of lives, they are not the bad guys.
At the same time, it is equally dishonest to pretend every agent is perfectly trained, restrained, and always right.
Some officers are careful, professional, and courageous.
Some appear militarized, abrasive, and poorly trained.
Both exist.
And both are now operating in a far more dangerous environment because of failures far upstream.
The federal presence in Minneapolis did not arise in a vacuum.
It arose because the local and state systems failed.
I wrote less than two months ago right here on Facebook about what is happening in Minnesota.
A twice convicted rapist named Abdimahat Bille Mohamed kidnapped a woman, held her captive for days, and attacked her again.
He had already harmed an adult.
He had already harmed a child.
He served zero jail time.
Zero.
Two attacks.
One victim a minor.
And Minnesota still released him.
That woman is now living through a nightmare that never should have been possible.
That is not a mistake.
That is not a loophole.
That is the result of a worldview.
A worldview that treats punishment as the real problem.
That treats violent men as misunderstood victims.
That releases predators and then acts shocked when predators do what predators do.
Minnesota is becoming a warning to the entire country.
Gut your justice system and women pay the price.
Elevate ideology over safety and families are destroyed.
Refuse to punish violent men and you guarantee more victims.
And now the same political leadership that would not jail rapists is lecturing the nation about justice.
This is incoherence.
And incoherence produces exactly what we are watching now.
Fear.
Chaos.
Violence.
Narrative warfare.
And let me add something else that matters.
Minneapolis is also the city where Justine Damond was shot to death in 2017.
She was unarmed.
She was not protesting.
She was not resisting arrest.
She called to report a crime.
The officer responded and shot her as she approached his squad car.
And that officer is now released.
This city has been living with deep wounds and broken trust for a long time.
Long before George Floyd.
Long before this week.
And a great deal of what we are watching now flows directly from the same leadership choices and the same political culture.
Scripture could not be clearer.
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”
Proverbs 18:17
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9
“Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
James 1:19
God hates unequal weights and measures.
He hates selective justice.
He hates double standards.
And sadly, it often seems that Minneapolis loves them.
We are being discipled right now.
Toward hatred.
Toward dehumanization.
Toward civil conflict.
Toward the lie that violence will purify politics.
It will not.
Civil conflict is not heroic.
It is not cinematic.
It is fast.
It is brutal.
And it destroys the innocent first.
If you care about immigrants, do not spread lies that get people killed.
If you care about law enforcement, do not celebrate death.
If you care about justice, do not inflame crowds with propaganda.
If you care about this country, demand truth before outrage.
This immigration series exists for one reason.
Not to pick teams.
Not to score points.
Not to go viral.
But to try, slowly and carefully, to build a system that holds law and mercy together without tearing the country apart.
We cannot do that if we abandon truth.
We cannot do that if we turn neighbors into enemies.
We cannot do that if we train ourselves to hate.
So let me say this as plainly as I know how.
Pray for the families of the dead.
Pray for the officers.
Pray for the protesters.
Pray for our leaders.
Refuse lies.
Refuse hatred.
Refuse to cheer for blood.
Because the road we are choosing right now does not lead to justice.
It leads to ruin.
And Scripture has warned us about this road for thousands of years.
“Seek peace and pursue it.”
Psalm 34:14
