Editor,

It is abundantly clear that the country is divided.  There are two vastly different versions about what is currently rocking the country.  One narrative is of violent riots, looting, pillaging and calling for the burning down of the Institution of the United States.  One narrative is of peaceful protests calling for defunding the police, fixing a system that is systemically racist.

Then there is the silent narrative that doesn’t completely follow either rendering.  The silent narrative is sitting back and questioning both sides.  Yes, violent rioting, looting, pillaging is taking place, and violent crimes escalating across the country.  Yes, peaceful protests are occurring, calling for the end of systemic racism.  However, when I look deeper I see bad actors embedding themselves in the peaceful protests igniting the violence with the cops, hijacking the peaceful protests.  I see edited clips that make police look like violent offenders, but when I dig to find the entire video I see violent provocation by agitators.  I see reports of unmarked Federal Agents being sent to cities to quell the civil unrest, but when I look at the photos I see enforcement agents in standard black uniforms, and agents in military uniforms BOTH clearly marked.

Ya know…. MOST cops are really GOOD people, who wanted to help people and understand they are public servants.  We can all acknowledge there is a small minority of bad cops.  But in the same vein there are some: bad Doctors, bad Electricians, bad Cooks, bad Priests, bad Journalists…. sometimes there are just bad PEOPLE in the world.

Somebody asked me “What are you going to do?”  In the midst of Helter Skelter 2020 I am going to take “a Safety Pause”, just step back, take the emotion out, and objectively look at everything.  I am going to ask “do I have all the facts?”  I am going to ask “if I was not given all the facts then why, what is the agenda?”  I am going to ask my self “does this reflect the environment, or the people that I actually know?”  If the story does not reflect the environment, or the people of my community (past or present)…. then the narrative does not apply.  If I did not get all the facts, or both sides of the story so I could make my own decision about how we feel about an issue, then it is my own personal responsibility to find “the REST of the story” – Paul Harvey.  That’s what I am going to do, and I invite you to do the same.

Dee Cruz-Murphy
Los Alamos