Monday, August 12, 2014, 12:19 PM

My prayer is that we love. I pray that we intentionally exercise love in all that we do. God, please teach us how to love; that we will learn to adequately love ourselves and use that internal love to exhibit and practice GRACE both toward ourselves and in how we accept, view, listen, learn and interact with others. Help us to truly help one another. Help us be longsuffering and peaceful in what we say, do, think and feel. Lord, help us to love; help us always choose to love. #IJN, Amen.

I am floored by how many people unashamedly spew venomous and hateful speech in regard–or disregard to human life. And, then want to “Bible beat” to somehow justisify their outlandishly calloused words, using a misquoted, half of scripture about LOVE, no doubt… Come on! Like, really? And then, want to go deeper into hate speech by asserting what mortal deaths/lives matter MORE than others? Do you folks not see how you are arguing something contrary to the cause your are currently trying to champion?!

The very crux of our boiling-point frustration over our Black women, men and children being profiled, targeted, brutalized and murdered is founded in the earnest need to be acknowledged, respected and treated with dignity as EQUALLY HUMAN? And, with that, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? From Crispus Attucks to numerous common lynchings to “Ain’t I A Woman” to the Rosewood massacre to Emmit Till to Claudette Colvin to the Clinton 12 & Little Rock 9 to the Freedom Rides to Rodney King to James Byrd to Abner Louima to Jena 6 to Alonzo Ashley to Ronette Morales to Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Ronisha McBride, Eric Gardner, John Crawford, 18 year old Michael Brown being shot 9 times with his hands in the air and left uncovered & dead in the street for FOUR HOURS and the latest Ezell Ford exterminated by LAPD just last night, the motivation has been that of the desire to just be counted as valuable human lives! #HumanRights

What you can not do is borrow the ideology from the opposing side that says some life is more valuable than others. Nope. How does that thinking differ from a supremacist’s? #Selah

Perhaps I’m so perplexed by this situation because both “hot button issues” (Black endangerment/experience in America & Mental Illness awareness/care) directly affect me. If that be the case, I’ll be the oracle here and disseminate some clarity:

Irrespective of race, faith, family, gender, sexuality, number of good or bad deeds, celebrity, height, weight, social status, appearance, career, wealth, education, résumé, fitness level, talents, popularity, sickness, criminal or health records, natural cause of death, war, accident, at the hands of law enforcement or department of corrections, genocide, homicide or suicide, each human life is of equal value… Maybe not to you on a personal level and, we know, not to media outlets of any sort but, IN REAL LIFE, we all carry the same worth. #MikeBrown AND #RobinWilliams deaths are both saddening and worth the mourning that comes from those who feel a loss.

So, it is NOT acceptable to tell people how or what to feel or degrade their bereavement. Furthermore, you MAY NOT attempt to negate or discount one’s life/death to exalt another for advancement of a cause and/or because you don’t approve of, understand or even empathize with one’s very real struggle… Such stigmatization must end. #RemoveTheStigma

I wasn’t going to address any of this because I am really not in a good enough place to stomach full out debate… Especially, the arguements declaring [self] righteousness that are watered down, out of context, sort-of-kind-of references to churchy clichés that are already theologically loose. But, I’m tired. Y’all be blessed and SHOW LOVE today.

~Jo
www.JoFoKe.com