To the editor:

In 2013, George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old high school student named Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman wasn’t a cop, and Martin wasn’t committing any crime, with the possible exception of being black in a mostly white community. The “Black Lives Matter” movement was started as a direct response to this and countless other similar acts of violence committed daily against blacks all across the nation.

Like any movement, BLM has had its share of problems and controversies, but it was founded for a very valid and real reason. In the U.S. and elsewhere, blacks are the targets of violence and discrimination in numbers vastly disproportionate with their population in the community. They are often harassed by police for nothing more than the dubious crime of “driving while being black,” and when arrests are made, blacks are far more likely to be shot and killed without instigation or justification. These facts are supported by FBI statistics and can’t be logically disputed by anyone who doesn’t have their head in the sand.

Shortly after the founding of the BLM movement, racists with an agenda (and a great marketing team) decided to deflect attention from the cause by creating their own movement. Despite the fact that crimes against law enforcement is trending downward, “Blue Lives Matter” became a rallying cry for anyone who wanted to deflect or ignore the real issues presented by the BLM community. In a way, this was a stroke of genius by the propagandists on the alt-right. No sane person would deny the fact that the lives of police and other first responders are important. And with that one simple slogan, bigots were empowered to drown out the very real concerns of the black community.

Why am I offering up this brief history lesson? Because over the last year, our own local law enforcement has started displaying the “Blue Lives Matter” flag prominently on each of its patrol vehicles. Now, I don’t for a minute believe that the Nashville Police Department has a racist agenda. I call many of the local police my friends and neighbors. They are amazing people who regularly risk their lives for low pay and little respect and THEIR LIVES ABSOLUTELY MATTER! And while I don’t believe that our local law enforcement is racist, I do believe that the administration of our local law enforcement has unknowingly been duped by this masterful misdirection effort.

We need to remove those flags from our police cars.

We live in an overwhelmingly white community, and as such, I don’t expect many people to fully perceive the importance of my message. Just as a person can’t fully appreciate the plight of the handicapped without spending a year in a wheelchair, most of us have never experienced the huge struggles of living with racism on a daily basis.

Before you dismiss my concerns too quickly, I’d suggest that you ask a few of the black visitors to our community just how they feel about the “Blue Lives Matter” flags on our police cars. I think their responses would be enlightening.

Jessica Bussert, Nashville

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