“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” -2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV

When I was a kid I was taught that if you don’t have anything good to say don’t say it at all. Over time I have changed that to if you don’t have anything thought provoking don’t say it at all. That has been the case of the tragic death of Freddie Gray  and the subsequent Baltimore Riots  that followed.

We could point fingers and say that Freddie shouldn’t have ran from the police or that the police should have called an ambulance from the scene of the arrest  . We could say that the rioters shouldn’t be mad and burn down their own neighborhoods  or attack innocent people that were not involved with Freddie’s case. We could say that Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake  made some bad decisions and didn’t respond quickly enough when she knew that things were getting out of hand. All these opinions are valid.

So where do we go from here? Who will step up and open the lines of communication? What will it take to get things back on track and moving in the right direction? When will race not be a determining factor in guilt or innocence? How will we pick up the broken pieces?