THE VOICE every person in America needs to hear on #Charlotte

As i was reading through my Twitter feed this morning I came upon this message from Jess Ramirez, Journalist and Filmmaker at @ajplus about the #BLM protests in Charlotte, NC about the shooting and killing of Keith Lamont Scott by police officers.

It is a message which should be the heart of the conversation about the shooting and killing of unarmed citizens by police in our nation.

#CharlotteProtest: This soldier had a message for police – from one service member to another. 🎥: @Myrna_Perezpic.twitter.com/KKmOl79f7m

This is a transcript of the video for those who cannot view it:

I’m out here protesting injustice, I’m from the military.

This is my one year anniversary of being a civilian.

And since I’ve gotten out, all I’ve heard is unarmed shootings.

Now, my biggest question to them is what is y’alls protocol?

What makes you shoot a man who doesn’t have a weapon in your [his] hand?

We don’t even have those rules over in Afghanistan and we’re at war.

So you mean to tell me we can come home and do that to our own people, but I can’t do that in the country we’re at war with?

That makes no sense to me. 

So that’s why I’m out here protesting.

That’s why I’m letting them know I am a Veteran. 

It makes no sense at all.

So either it’s the training or they need to start hiring new people.

The Rules of Engagement for our Military Armed Forces are built upon these three tenets:

Necessity, Distinction, and Proportionality.

According to international law, the principle of military necessity requires combat forces to engage in only those acts necessary to accomplish a legitimate military objective. Distinction requires combatants to intentionally attack only valid military targets. And finally, proportionality requires that combatants use only the minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish their military objectives.

It’s the last one, proportionality, which Sage Lawson is speaking about in the video. “Use ONLY the minimum amount of force necessary”.

How in the world can we allow actions to be taken against our fellow citizens which our Military Armed Forces are prohibited from taking on the battlefield in a War?

Please, help share this message. It needs to become part of the conversation about the unending shooting and killing of unarmed citizens by police officers in this country.

Because how Law Enforcement is behaving now?

IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.