NFLer's post goes viral on Ferguson – WHY?

I applaud Benjamin Watson for being transparent and honest about his feelings about what happened in Ferguson and throughout the rest of United States. I believe he has hit the bull’s eye when it comes to the unwillingness on either side of the issue to stop for a minute and just listen to each other. The fact that another group of NFLers decided to stage a protest before their football game in St. Louis continues to underline how there isn’t much if any dialogue taking place between the sides.

I wonder whether Mr. Watson’s post would have almost a million hits if he had been a ‘White’ player instead of one of color? We need to see how the issues cross all racial boundaries and that everyone has both been hurt and also ignored common sense in lifting their voices. The extremes of both sides are difficult to avoid between a group putting their hands up saying ‘don’t shoot me’ to the other side viewing Mr. Brown as a thug who smokes pot, steals from convince stores and uses his size to intimidate police officers.

The challenge is that the different sides in this incident aren’t very willing to listen to the facts. The difficulty now is whether the facts will ever totally be exposed and viewed as being true or the misrepresentation of the facts will take the forefront. What Mr. Watson does in his essay is call us to confront our own prejudice, hatred and mistrust of those that are different from us. He is so true to label the issue of the problem not to be just racism but sin, which is an unwillingness to acknowledge God’s way to live.

Mr. Watson is correct in stating that it was sin that pushed Mr. Brown to do what he did and ultimately be responsible for what happened with stealing and pushing someone to their limit. Just as Officer Wilson that day clearly had thoughts about the typical ‘Black’ teen and why they always seem to be troublemakers in his mind. The opportunity for all of us is to be just as quick as this NFL star to admit that we are truly at fault for racism, misjudging ‘Black teens’ and ‘White police officers’. Yet, the difficulty is that we don’t want to step up and be as honest and transparent as this football player.

The alternative course of action is what we see going on in the media, the ongoing protests that choose to use violence to get their point across and the celebrities that use this situation as an opportunity to grandstand. I applaud a quote I found that shows two little kids of different color hugging each other with the statement, ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools!’ I wonder what Dr. King would do if he were still alive and had marched the streets in Ferguson, Detroit or Portland this last week?