Bleed Red

Jude was sitting in his truck when his cell phone rang. He almost didn't answer it. The number was unfamiliar. As he was about to toss the phone unto the empty seat next to him, something told him he should answer it. He did.

"Chief, is that you?" There was only a few people who would call him by rank.

"That's right. Who is this?" His voice was unapologetically gruff.

"I know it's been a long time. Don't tell me my voice has changed that much!"

"No, I remember the ugly mug that belongs to that voice." Jude relaxed his body as the image of the caller's face came to mind.

"Still not as ugly as yours!" The voice was friendly and playful. "How has life been treating you?"

"I can't complain.You?"

"The same."

"I know you didn't track me down to ask me that." Jude was always direct and to the point. "What's going on?"

"Did you hear about Hayes?" The voice turned somber.

"No. What's he up to?"

"He's dead! Killed by a cop!"

"A cop! What happened?"

"Evidently, he ran a red light. You know Archie. Rules and laws are suggestions and guide lines to be followed or not depending on the circumstances. Anyway, this young, white cop pulled him over and asked for ID. Archie reached under his seat for his wallet and was shot in the head! The cop said he thought Archie was reaching for a gun. Archie never gave anyone a hard time. No one was more easy going, laid back and accomodating. He always admitted when he was in the wrong and took his lumps without complaint.

If Archie wasn't black, it would never have happened! A white driver would have been given a warning to be more careful and that would have been the end of it!"

"Maybe." Jude sounded thoughtful.

"Maybe nothing! That cop had no reason to take his gun from the holster let alone pull the trigger!"

"Agreed. When's the service?" There's Jude being the bottom-line kind of guy again.

"Three days ago. It's taken me that long to track you down."

"If you're not looking for a pallbearer then what do you need, Lieu?"

"Day after tomorrow there's going to be a protest in front of the police station of that young offier. There's to be a BLack Lives Matter march ending at City Hall. The guys are meeting tomorrow in Alabama to join the march."

"Why Alabama?"

"That's where is happened. Some small town outside of Birmingham. So, when can you get there?"

"I'm not going." Jude sounded definite.

"What do you mean, you're not going?" Jude had to hold the phone away from his head.

"Listen, Archie was a pain in the ass. He never stopped talking no matter what was thrown at him. He was always asking guys for socks because he was too cheap to spend money on them.

But he would take his last bite of food from his pack to give someone else saying he wasn't hungry no matter how loud his stomach growled. He woud jump on a wounded soldier covering him with his body while laying down fire. There's no one I would rather have beside me in a fire fight.

What happened to him isn't an outrage because he was black or because he was a Navy Seal. It's an outrage bacause he was a human being, not more or less than any other man. He was a an that Bled Red just like the young cop that shot him."

"All the more reason to be there!"

Typical Jude silence.

"You know this is your fight too. He was one of us. If something like this can happen to one of us and not be addressed then it can happen to any of us or all of us!" Jude understood his vehemence.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Just as vehement."That was me next to you for two years in that hell hole half way around the world fighting for the humanity of people that place no value on human life! They killead their neighbors, friends, family, old men, women, children. They didn't care who died just so they could feel they were right. I'm tired of everything being a fight!"

"If people don't stand up for what's right and protest and fight injustice then the tyrants win!"

"Tell me why this country has to keep fighting the same fight over and over again for a different group of people. Women's equality, Gay rights, Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter.

When will someone stand up and say if I cut you and you Bleed Red you matter. Your life has value, the same value as everyone else who bleeds red. You deserve the same dignity, respect and rights as the others."

Lieu tried to cut in but Jude wasn't finished. "When someone has a Bleed Red March and gathers everyone together, I'll join that. We an put an end to injustice and inequality and senseless violence once and for all."

What coud Lieu say to that? There was nothing. "All right. We'll miss you. I'll loet the others know."

"Good Luck."

"Yeah. Hey, if anyone organizes a Bleed Red rally, I'll expect you to be there!"

"I'll be walking out front carrying the banner!"

"Be well, Brother!"

"You know it. Be careful down there. Just because something begins peacefully doesn't mean it ends that way."