We’ve seen similar scenes this summer from the Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Iraq. But this time, the photo was taken  in the heartland of America, Ferguson, MO.

The New York Times published this photo today. It exposes the reality of life in the USA today. After nearly thirteen years of the War on Terror, we are a society at war with ourselves as well as the world. Our politics, economy, culture, everything it seems, is conducted as war. We resort first to violence, violent language in ordinary discourse, and military fatigues, weapons, and armored personnel carriers at the first hint of trouble.

We mourn the lost future of Mike Brown, of so many others who were caught up in the militarized violence of the police and populace: Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin. The list is endless. We should mourn what we have become as a nation and a society: “All who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52)

From the ALCU:

Our neighborhoods are not warzones, and police officers should not be treating us like wartime enemies. Any yet, every year, billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment flows from the federal government to state and local police departments. Departments use these wartime weapons in everyday policing

The full ACLU report on the militarization of US policing is available here