America is burning, and perhaps it deserves to. 50 years have passed since the previous race riots, but we've still made little progress. Now we have cell phones that can record what's happening, but imagine the number of atrocities that occurred before that. No one would take the word of a Black over a police officer, or even a white person. Even now with clear cell phone evidence! It's frustrating when the narratives keep shifting: who are the protestors and who are the looters? Are they the same people? Many claim that the agitators are from out of town, that they are white anarchists, or white supremacists. Are the police themselves tear gassing and injuring innocent bystanders like reporters, and children? It's so very horrifying, yet also confusing! John and I watched Trevor Noah discuss the idea of a "social contract" that we all accept to live in society. It's supposed to insure protection and security, as well as law and order. Everyone should reap the benefits of the contract, but people of color see that contract as breached...not just once or twice or even ten times, but over and over again. Thus, why should they care about a social contract that doesn't appear to apply to them? Why should they respect the rule of law when the representatives of those laws who are designated to "serve and protect" murder them instead? Trevor describes it eloquently, and John and I were impressed by his arguments.
Mari and I decided to watch the SpaceX Dragon hook up to the Space Station this morning, even though I'm NO fan of Elon Musk. John is a huge space fanatic, due to his nearly 40 years at Boeing and his work with missiles. I admit that I watched it off and on because I'm more of a coffee and word puzzle fanatic! :)
I did enjoy seeing them meet up with the other astronauts, although it looked weird that they hugged and shook hands. What a sad commentary on how this virus has changed our point of view on physical contact. :(
I'm hoping that the middle will bloom before the sides are dead. I'd like a photo with the whole rhody orange, which is probably too much to ask for. Sigh.
Some police departments(like this one in Miami) managed the protests well, and showed empathy and support. Our Seattle PD, in spite of an African-American female police chief, did not.
And any time that Facebook friends share quotes from MLK about non-violence, I post this in their comments.
I finally figured out how to express my feelings on Facebook, but my words are mostly other people's. Rightfully so, since they are the ones living with constant racism, and I am not. I'm a friend, and an ally, but I can't possibly comprehend their fear, pain and rage. I shared part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's letter from Birmingham Jail: I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Recent Comments