#BlackLivesMatter

Hands up; don't shoot.

It's an image I can't get out of my head; a phrase I can't repeat aloud without my voice breaking.

It's rare that a simple phrase erodes my defenses so. But in the aftermath of the lynching of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the sight of children holding their hands up in frightened pleading supplication just destroys me.

Because these children matter. Their lives matter. Black lives matter.

And so when I learned that five members of the St. Louis Rams decided to seize the opportunity presented by yesterday's holiday-weekend football game to show solidarity with Ferguson's Black population, a population occupied by an invading [para]military force, I cheered.

Then I cried.

Tonight, I need to thank those five players, however symbolically, and however invisibly. They (and by extension, their team), have taken a metric ton of racist crap, toxic sewage dumped on them via social media and other venues. The comments on the team's Facebook page, predictably, turned into a cesspool immediately. Jeff Roorda, spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, issued a nasty, vicious, openly racist "statement" that amounted to nothing more than a series of bullying attacks and virtually entirely-unveiled threats to the safety of the players. The SLPOA is demanding apologies, suspension, firings, more.

The SLPOA can shove it.

These men, some of whom have children of their own, took a courageous step yesterday. One of them, Kenny Britt, made a photo of his hand wraps available:

On the right: "Mike Brown." On the left: "My Kids Matter."

Yes. They do. All our children do.

So thank you, Kenny Britt (@kennybritt_18). 

Thank you, Tavon Austin (@Tayaustin01). 

Thank you, Stedman Bailey, Sr. (@iamSB3). 

Thank you, Jared Cook (@JaredCook89). 

Thank you, Chris Givens (@CG1three). 

Thank you, Tre Mason (@TreMason).

Thank you for choosing to #StepUp and say, publicly, that #BlackLivesMatter.