I have nothing eloquent to say about the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests around the country. What happened to George is horrible and wrong.
I have nothing kind to say about Trump’s reaction or his visit to the church for a photo op … and our government’s violent response to peaceful protesters.
While I’m not sure how to articulate my feelings about this tragedy and our long history of racial injustice, I can’t just go on and pretend it didn’t happen. Now more than ever, I believe it’s important to take a stand against racism.
I support Black Lives Matter. I want to be part of the solution, and I’m looking for leadership and inspiration from all corners of America and beyond to show us the way.
When I was working full time, I had a two day meeting each year in San Francisco. I think it was 2015 when we stayed at the Palace Hotel. My wife and I stayed over Friday night to enjoy the City. Saturday morning we we walking down Market Street and saw a huge crowd along with busses full of cops in riot gear coming our way. We happened into the middle of a Black Lives Matter March. We had the entire March pass by us in a peaceful manner, the seas parted for those of us walking against the tide. I support peaceful protest
Thank you for sharing that story, David!
Like David I support peaceful protest, but we live in an increasingly angry world where the merest spark can set off a conflagration. The anger is always there, potentially, even in the simplest situation. Simmering. It is a kind of mass madness. Unfortunately, large groups or gatherings, especially, with a single focus can often lose objectivity and reason quite suddenly. Prepare for more of this.
Yes, sad but true.
As my friends despair that things have never been this bad, I remind them of the Rodney King riots. Things were bad then. My generation has lived through turbulent times – assassination of our president when we were young, assassination of MLK, civil rights marches, Vietnam war demonstrations, women’s rights marches…it goes on and on. When we are looking back, we know how it turned out. I think that times are desperately bad, but that we will get through them. Hopefully, American voters will seize the November election to vote out the most incompetent president and senate that we have ever had. And then we can begin the long road to healing some of these divisions. I’m proud of the multitudes of Americans who choose to peacefully protest (and wish I could join them), although I am very fearful of the probable jump in virus numbers a couple of weeks from now.
Well said, Nina. I do believe getting Trump out of there is a big step in the right direction.
Right now everything is in our face. I think it’s most important what we do after this moment in our history is over. Can we sustain a level of outrage that allows real change?
A good point. I know I lost a lot of my fire as I got older and more comfortable.
I have nothing eloquent to say about our long history of racial injustice, either. But James Baldwin did: “To accept one’s past—one’s history—is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.”
A beautiful quote.