Daniel W. Shattuck: Maleah’s meaning

Regarding the Dec. 29 news story “Suspect arrested in shooting of toddler”: Three young black men sit in Orange County jail. A black toddler, Maleah, is dead. Attempting to settle a conflict with a deadly weapon says no life matters.

Reported some time ago, a white police officer struggled with a black assailant who attempted to take the officer’s service weapon . A Missouri town was set afire, night after night, underneath banners that declared “Seasonings Greetings.” Meanwhile, in Durham, scores of individuals blocked I-40, held a “lie-in” at a local upscale department store and basically behaved in a raw and disruptive manner.

Black lives matter. Really? How could blocking an Interstate and lying down in protest at a department store have helped Maleah? Maleah was life. Maleah was hope. Maleah was a gift from the creator. Maleah was someone’s child, not merely a black child. She was a child.

It is time to take inventory. All life matters. The creator will not sort us out by color, size, gender, education, job status, wealth or any other earthly characteristic. Now is the time for people everywhere, be they black or white, to come together and never allow Maleah to have died in vain. Let the suffering experienced by Maleah’s death be of value. Stand up, people, stand up.

Seasonings greetings? Blocking an interstate? Disrupting a business? Meaningless compared with the loss of Maleah.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Daniel W. Shattuck: Maleah’s meaning."