Taya Kyle, the wife of deceased U.S. Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, shared a Facebook post imploring her followers not to show anger at broad groups of people, such as law enforcement officers, despite the objectionable actions of some in that group.
“A Marine killed my husband and his friend in cold blood. Do I have or blame all Marines?” Kyle wrote in a Saturday post. Her husband was killed while providing firearms training to a Marine with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on Feb. 2, 2013. That marine shot her husband and his friend Chad Littlefield.
“I had another Marine encourage someone to, ‘put a couple bullets in that bitch (me)’. Yet another Marine has aggressively stalked me. The problem with labeling a whole group of people is: it’s NEVER the truth,” Kyle wrote. “Saying: ALL cops. ALL blacks. ALL conservatives. ALL liberals. ALL whites. ALL Marines. is dehumanizing and not true.”
Kyle continued, “We NEED police. Police are NOT the issue, just like Marines are not the issue. A uniform doesn’t commit a heinous crime, a person does. Be merciful AND just (Micah 6:8). Give a SERIOUS consequence for the act. ANY instance of racism is wrong. We ALL need to be fearless in addressing each instance of horrific behavior. I challenge and implore you: WE MUST STOP labeling groups of people. That, in the end, will destroy us.”
Kyle shared the post amid widespread outrage and calls to defund police departments, following the death of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody. Footage of Floyd’s arrest on Monday, May 25, showed an officer, Derek Chauvin, pinning his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes before he was eventually pronounced dead.
The incident has sparked demonstrations around the country, with complaints about police brutality and racially motivated police tactics. Demonstrations have included both peaceful protests as well as destructive and violent incidents. Some police officers have been injured and others have been killed during more than two weeks of demonstrations.
Kyle’s comment went viral as more than 18,000 people liked her Facebook post, more than 3,000 people shared the post and more than 1,000 people commented.
