The Best Is Yet To Come…
The difficult conversation of why Black Lives Matter is important.
2020. When we look back on this year, what comes of it and what marks it has left on us will truly be telling. That is evident. From loosing our freedoms to a virus striking millions upon millions around the world. To loosing our country as it is tearing at the fabric of what can no longer be denied.
Black. Lives. Matter.
How could they not. If all lives matter, does that not include our black ones? Its caustic to think that some feel our plea to be equally valued and fairly treated comes from a place of hate. If you have ever sang a song produced by or rooted for a team whose superstar was a person of color, how could you not be vested in that individual’s backstory, background and personal plight? Again, ALL LIVES MATTER. It shouldn’t be “only when we’re entertaining you.” Nor should we receive preferential treatment. We simply wish to sustain our place in this world without worrying about the targets on our back simply because the evening news portrays us in the only light that can be sensationalized. If you’re honest with yourself, you can see past bias and hate and have empathy for not singular individuals but a whole people.
I’ll be the first to say that I wholeheartedly disagree with the looting and laying carnage to individuals property within your own community. There is no rationale to that, only angst. With that being said, we would never have received our freedoms as a country had it not been for the Boston Tea Party and ultimately the American Revolution. Black people are enraged about the killing of unarmed individuals by law enforcement who are supposed to be governed by laws and what is just. Our society is supposed to act as a civil one. This to which is why so many individuals from other countries attempt year after year to gain entry to ours. Whether it be legally or illegally. Because we are supposed to be a better more fare nation than that which they came from.
If that is the notion, why don’t all of its home grown citizens feel protected throughout the country? How does a young male from New York City feel the same fear and distrust as a middle aged woman in Northern California? Their only link being the color of their skin and the color of the uniform of the individual that has pulled them over. It is the way policing is not viewed as a public service job and that surge of authority that stands on their strong side hand attached to their hip that causes this mistrust. We can’t loose site that in a democracy, the people have the ultimate power. We must not be blinded by a few individuals but be moved by the basis of our issue is equality. Nothing more nothing less.
With three-quarters of this calendar year complete and the upcoming election at hand we’re still hoping that maybe there’s a silver lining in all of this. The honest answer is there has to be. For all of the mayhem and destruction that has taken place, what remains true is that tomorrow is another day. Any day above ground is a good one. And when all else fails, hold steady to the always affirming: This Too Shall Pass. We can take solace in knowing that the sun truly will come out tomorrow. ‘Anne’ belted out about a fact that has rang true before dinosaurs, before the holocaust and before the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Hell it was still a daily occurrence before a certain individual took public office and attempted to dismantle the vivid democracy that this country was founded upon. The days of sitting idle on one’s hands are over. Use the power at your disposal and go vote. Use the ability to voice your dislike and distrust and take part in your local governments. Seek out the representatives in your district and tell them to fight on your behalf or be removed come November. After all this is still a democracy. What has been set in place may not have had people of color in mind at the time but our contributions to this country should have unequivocally granted us a seat at the table and a fervent say in what we’ll no longer stand for should.
Be intentional in your purpose, be effective in your meaning. Be about action and justice not simply likes, follows and retweets. If you stand on the other side of this, be fair in your whys and not simple in your biases. After all, this is a country that was created “By the People, For the People.” As members of this country, we’re not asking for exclusion just our God-given right at inclusion. To those who say “their just doing their job.” I ask you if a pilot crashes a plane and he were the only one to walk away unscathed, does he still receive the same success rate? To whom much is given, much is expected goes the saying but its not without critique and certainly not above reproach.
