If you are Christian, you must fight against racism

I am a prolife Christian. Some people argue about black lives versus blue lives as if they are not one and the same.

When a racist cop, they are out there, kills an unarmed person of color, the police officer doesn’t just destroy that person’s life and family, he devalues and endangers all police officers’ lives far more then any protester.

Although most of the police are servants of the public good, multiple generations of minorities have grown up distrusting the police. It is the racist bullies among them that stain all of them. It is hard to solve a crime when the people who saw it are too scared to talk. A minority runs from the police because they fear for their lives, and the police see it as guilt. Violence breeds violence, hatred breeds hatred, and though the police do not pay as high a price as the minorities, they still pay a price for the actions of racist cops.

To be a prolife Catholic means cherishing all lives from conception to natural death. There is no blue life side versus black life side, or unborn versus mother, or liberal versus conservative. These are all labels meant to cheapen the lives of others. Rooting out racism and hatred in every form and in every arena of life benefits everyone. No one should call themselves prolife, a Christian, or an American if they do not fight against the deadly, systemic racism in our country.

MARY HALEY

Sandpoint