I’ve lived in New York City for 14 years. During that time I have never been the victim of a crime. I’ve felt unsafe maybe a couple of times. Neither time was particularly dangerous.

But yeah, sure, I’M the one living in a “war zone.”

This day is for ALL of us. For the promise of what this country could be for ALL of us. And it’s up to ALL of us to fulfill this promise.

Don’t let anything or anyone take that away.

Protests and riots are the direct result of society’s failing to meet the needs of the citizenry. Therefore, our focus should always be on the circumstances which fomented civil unrest, not on the expression of the unrest itself.

Stay safe out there, y’all.

The American Revolution began with violent demonstrations, rioting, looting, and we look back in history and glorify that violence because the end result was American Independence. The violence is viewed as integral to freedom.

Civil disobedience is a legitimate tool for positive change, and it’s dishonest to say violence has no part in it.

I’m not saying every demonstration should express itself through violence, what I’m saying is that when folks, fired up over a perceived injustice, are met with resistance, some level of violence is likely to occur, and that in itself does not invalidate their cause.

It doesn’t matter whether the events themselves turned violent or not, and quibbling over the level of violence is a distraction, an attempt to delegitimize the cause. At the end of the day, the federal government instigated this dissent and then escalated the confrontation.

Comparing these protests to the January 6 Insurrection is a bad faith argument. One advocates for government adherence to the rule of law, the other advocated for the unlawful certification of a candidate who lost a free and fair election.

If the government is coming into your community, kidnapping members of your family, friends, neighbors, even strangers, without explanation or due process as required by law, dissent is justified.

Christianity does not need protection from persecution, and in fact, the only Christians I ever see being persecuted are victims of other Christians.