By Charles Henderson

RESOLVED: I will reach out in kindness and love to all people I meet. I will especially reach out to people of different ethnicity than my own, extending to them love of mankind.

This is the resolution I have made, the morning after I watched in deep sadness as the good hearted people of America fell victim to the haters and race baiters who have used an incident in Ferguson, Missouri to further agendas based on hatred and racial differences.

I will wager that the vast majority of all the people of Ferguson and of Saint Louis County, Missouri, and all across America find the violence and hatred we see streaming across our television screens, on social media, in all media, repugnant. Most people, I will wager, want peace and do love their neighbors. They want justice and freedom for all of God’s children—us.

Haters and baiters seized the opportunity to further their political agendas throughout the last three months, since that fateful day that Michael Brown, a very large and intimidating young man, stole a handful of cigars from a convenience store, encountered a policeman seeking him out, and fell to a violent death in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

I will not debate one side or the other in the matter of whether or not the officer was justified in shooting Michael Brown, but I will take a stand on what is right in America, and violence, bloodshed, rioting and hatred, especially racially motivated hatred is all very, very wrong. We are better than this!

I watched in horror as Autozone and Advance Auto and locally owned mom-and-pop businesses burned to the ground after all things of any value were looted from these stores in Ferguson, Missouri. Most of these local businesses were owned by African-American people. Good, hard-working people. People who want what is best for our nation and their community. Many African-American people worked in the chain stores too. Autozone and Advance Auto Supply. Mechanics in those businesses are mostly African-American people, and looters and haters and racist thugs stole their personal tools before burning their sources of employment to the ground.

Mechanics across the USA make a living in shops, like barbers and hair stylists, and they own their own tools of their trade. Mechanics work for years and years to earn the thousands of dollars it costs to fill professional tool boxes. Think about it. A lifetime of hard work stolen by worthless thugs who use hate as an excuse to rob and burn a community.

My heart cries out for the hard-working, good people of Ferguson and across America who chose sides in this ugly controversy. People being duped by the likes of Al Sharpton and other racists. Yes, racism lives on both sides of the street.

In 1987, while I lived in New York City, Al Sharpton made himself famous by taking up the case of Tawana Brawley, a young girl of 15 years who alleged that she was raped by three white men, one of whom was a police officer. She had been missing four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, New York, and was discovered lying seemingly unconscious and unresponsive in a garbage bag near an apartment where she had once lived. Her clothing was partially burned and torn, and her body was smeared with feces. At the hospital, medical workers rendering her aid found the words, “KKK” and “nigger” and “bitch,” written across her torso in a black substance like charcoal.

The Reverend Al Sharpton with attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason seized the opportunity to raise a racist outcry that dominated the US  and world media, demanding justice, that the police officer and other white men accused in the rape be taken to trial. The three activists vocalized their hatred of whites on all the New York media and that caught on with world attention. They pointed to the police and white people in general as the enemy of all African-Americans. During this same period, Reverend Sharpton was under investigation for embezzling $450,000 dollars from the Downtown Boys Club of New York City.

After weeks of demonstrations, news began to leak that Tawana Brawley had changed her story. She had not been raped after all, but she said she suffered other abuse. The story changed because forensic evidence did not support her allegations. As the facts began to further unravel the disturbed 15 year old girl’s story, the truth began to emerge. Fighting the truth, Sharpton, Maddox and Mason became ever more vocal, accusing the “system” of cover up and injustice.

At the end of the day, the truth finally came forth. No one raped or abused Tawana Brawley. She had run away from home, had gone to her old neighborhood, and to hide her truth of running away from home she concocted the whole terrible tale. She covered herself with feces and wrote the racists slurs across her chest and stomach, tore her clothes and burned them, and then got in the trash bag.

This poor child just needed love and positive attention from her parents, the people who are supposed to love her. She was acting out, and in her sad lie the haters and race baiters caught America afire with hatred.

People who have nothing hate people who have something. It is called envy. It is called coveting. Greedy people who have great wealth draw the consternation of the masses who have little to nothing. It is a fact of humanity since Adam. Envy, coveting, greed, motivated Cain to slay his brother, Abel.

The riots in Ferguson, Missouri and the violence and protests across America have been ignited by hatred. Hatred by a very small minority of African-American people toward everyone who is not African-American. Not just white people, but Latino and Asian and other ethnicities included. They hate authority, and they identify authority as white. In truth, authority across America is of a multitude of ethnicities. Yet the mask of this authority is white.

These ugly, violent few use lies and emotion to strike at the hearts of good people who struggle and have little, and want a better life. They tell the people that they are subjugated and live in a world of injustice. They point to the people in power, and the hatred ignites racial hatred. Like a grassfire on a windy day, the flames of hatred spread, and the people hating do not even know why they hate.

Protesters protest authority, and point at the Police. The militant, racist, Gestapo police in their eyes. In truth, the Police are the good guys who are of all ethnicities and backgrounds, who are the sons and daughters of their community, and only seek to serve and protect the good people from the evil of violent crime that grows among the poorest of America.

Today is a very sad day for us all, watching the hate and protest. Hate and protest of what? Injustice? What injustice do they mean?

Several weeks ago, a young Latino man in Rocky Ford, Colorado was out late at night, and did something that incited a policeman to chase him home. Whatever happened, and those facts have not been made public because the investigation continues, caused the policeman to apparently lose his temper. When the Latino man ran inside his home, where members of his family waited for him, rather than stopping and calling for assistance and a warrant, the policeman kicked down the door. His gun drawn, the policeman then shot the unarmed Latino man in the back and killed him.

As the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has continued its search of the facts and testimony of witnesses, building evidence of fact in the matter, based on the evidence gathered thus far, the district attorney has charged the policeman with murder. What degree and what other charges may come to light have yet to come out, since the investigation continues.

This is Justice: People in lawful authority seeking the truth and acting within the law to enforce the Rule of Law and the United States Constitution. Most importantly, enforcing and exercising the Rule of Law and the Constitution without bias and equally to all citizens. Respecting the rights of the people, regardless of gender, age, origin or ethnicity.

What can We the People do today to stop the violence, stop the racism, stop the hatred? Very simply: Love One Another.

Today, as you go out. Tomorrow as you go out. Reach out to other people. Show them a smile. Offer a friendly word to strangers. Make them feel welcome, and loved.

An open heart and an open hand with a big, sincere smile can conquer all hatred.

 ©Copyright 2014 Charles W. Henderson