Embedded in the fabric of America is the right to peacefully protest our government.  There is no such right to riot, loot, and burn down our cities, yet in many leftist-run cities across America, this unwritten right appears codified.

Our founders correctly believed that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  George Floyd's rights were snuffed out.  The perpetrator of this despicable act is now awaiting a murder trial.  This should have happened sooner, along with the arrest for accessory of those who stood silent, while Derek Chauvin used an improper restraint technique against George Floyd.  Nonetheless, justice for the perpetrators is underway.  The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine is an adapted old expression that requires us to have patience and trust in an imperfect system that by all accounts is the best in the world.  It's system that through our representative government can be changed by a deliberative process put forth by our founders and enshrined in our Constitution, not by the emotional tantrums of an out-of-control, radical mob.

At no time is our civil society more at risk than when lawlessness is encouraged and allowed to overtake our justice system.  "No justice, no peace" is an often heard rallying cry.  Except whose justice and by what measure peace?  The constant drum from the left that America is endemically racist, that we have "systemic and institutional" racism has been harmful to any progress or healing.

"Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes the truth" is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels.  The N.Y. Times 1619 Project is an example of this type of propaganda.

I have been a volunteer reserve deputy for a local law enforcement agency for many years.  I was recently deployed as a tactical medic for a SWAT team to help with local protests/riots.  In my many years involved in law enforcement, I have never seen "systemic or institutional" racism.  Our SWAT team is mutli-ethinic and multi-racial.  I have never viewed my team members through any lens other than competency.  I read a recent opinion piece where the author stated: "A majority of white Americans still cannot come to terms with what black people have known forever: Racism is systemic, systematic, and nowhere near gone."  There are many black conservatives who differ, and we had a two-term black president who got the majority white vote overwhelmingly.

There are bad apples in every profession and every walk of life.  It is the nature of human existence.  We must not generalize the few with the majority.  We must not allow peaceful and righteous protesters to be overtaken by Antifa or any other radical groups that use the cover of an unjust act to further their own socio-political agenda.  Peaceful protesters and politicians must speak out loudly against this anarchy.  Where are the justice and peace for store-owners whose establishments are looted and torched?  Where are the justice and peace for the innocent bystanders who are injured or killed?  Where are the justice and peace for injured or killed law enforcement officers taking a stand to protect innocent life and property?  Where is the outcry when a church in Washington, D.C. built in the 1800s is torched? 

The path forward must include an intolerance of lawless acts of violence and looting.  We must use the full extent of law enforcement bolstered as necessary by the National Guard to shut down the riots immediately and return civility to the streets.  Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it.  Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat.  It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.

That futility must be followed by an open dialogue where feelings are discussed but facts drive policy.  Racial division is a useful tool for those who want a radical progressive change to our government institutions.  Saul Alinsky knew this well when he stated, "The despair is there; now it's up to us to go in and rub raw the sores of discontent." 

Our American founders had a different vision for America: one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.  I hope (pray) most Americans today feel the same.