Black Lives Matter

It has been hard this last couple of weeks to think of anything light-hearted to write about. Not because of the virus--for all the death and suffering, at least it's natural. No, I'm talking about the televised murder of George Floyd, and the popular uprising from this last straw, which brought to light even more brutalities captured on video.

I'm sick and saddened by racists who insist that the possibility of systemic racism in our policing doesn't even need to be looked into (I'm talking to you, Bill Barr), and by liars and sophists who claim that holding police accountable for their brutality amounts to mere "political correctness" (I'm talking to you, Jeff Sessions). And by those who have been made complacent by white privilege, who needed a global protest movement to awaken them to the need to address a problem that's been festering all their lives (I'm talking to you, Dorn).

Abuse of the powerless by the powerful has been part of the human condition since forever. Like it or not, the systematic abuse of non-whites is a cornerstone of the American story. 

We can't change the past, but we must change the future. Changing our story hasn't been easy or gone unopposed, and won't be completed without more mis-steps and backslides, but it has to happen. If you believe that the system needs to change, take heart, and work to make it so. You are doing right!

If you believe that law and order is so important that the risk of an occasional abuse is justified, at least come to the table and work to minimize that risk, and ensure that all enjoy the benefits of law and order, and the risks of abuse aren't disproportionately passed to people of color. I did a post a while back (here) about the human tendency to want someone else to pay the price for our own good fortune. This started way back with human sacrifice, and some will argue (and I agree) that we are still practicing that today, under other names like Law & Order. We need to stop the sacrifice of human lives!

And if you believe that the benefits to you of a strong (even militarized) police justifies the risk of injury or death to someone of color, then you are saying that black lives don't matter to you as much as your own life and comfort, and you should carefully read your Bible or the Declaration of Indepen­dence, or whatever you draw your spiritual identity from. If you still aren't swayed by reason or compassion, then I hope you will be swayed by force of numbers this election day.

Thank you, I had to say that. Next time, I'll be back with another post on the lighter side of living each day in fear of the deadly coronavirus. 

Thanks for listening.
Dorn
6/11/2020

BLACK LIVES MATTER.