The systemic racism that exists in our criminal justice system has been proven to exist again and again as innocent African Amerians lose their lives at the hand of those sworn to protect and serve. The list of names is familiar and long. Some of us have been numbed by the sheer numbers. We see another face on the news and fleetingly think "oh how awful, something really must be done" but then we go about our lives and forget about it. If you are a black mom, though, raising young men...the fear never goes away. These moms teach sons to always be on alert, keep your head down and your mouth shut, make sure you don't run out of gas and that your tires are in good shape, don't be caught walking anywhere after dark, and if God forbid you have an encounter with law enforcement, keep your hoodie down and hands showing at all times. Speak in respectful tones. Do not appear agitated or nervous, even though you are frightened to death down to your very core.
Five or six years ago, after the Trayvon Martin shooting, I was shocked to know that moms have to raise their boys this way. But even knowing this did not cause me to want to act against the atrocities of one violent arrest-gone-wrong after another. The tipping point for me happened over Memorial Day weekend, when all of us (and there are many like me) finally had our ultimate wake-up call to action. A video began to circulate on social media of a Minnesota police officer kneeling on top of George Floyd, strangling and suffocating him, while three others looked on. Even after Floyd begged him to stop, saying "I Can't Breathe!", the abuse continued. Even after other people watching this horror unfold begged the man to stop, knowing at this point he was killing Mr. Floyd, the policeman did not stop. The EMTs took Floyd's limp body away and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. What was he being punished for? Writing a bad check at a convenience store.
The outrage over this video has grown, and now protests against Police Departments' systemic racist treatment of people of color are happening daily, nightly, in every major city in America. Sometimes those protests have turned violent, because there are always people out there bad enough to take advantage of crowds and loot, steal and plunder. Curfews were set in some of the bigger cities. Of course, those who are uncomfortable with the thought that racism exists everywhere and has for a long time focus on this violence instead of the true problem at hand. They are looking for a distraction and are willing to blame others so quickly to avoid looking inward at themselves and putting in the work to change.
Unfortunately there are many who also follow Trump's lead in blaming far left-wing movements for supposedly organizing and paying more people to protest. This tactic of the right sickens me. In order to keep things the way they have been and ensure whites remain in power they actually blame the "other side" of faking support. HOW can you possibly call yourselves Christian and fall for this? HOW do you look the other way and forget about the real issue that needs to be changed - there is a long-standing problem of systemic racism in our police departments and many, many innocent people have been killed. If you are more angry about violent protests than an innocent man being killed by police you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.
Our job became clear - talk to the kids about this. How horrible we think it is. How we would be out there protesting if it wasn't for the continued threat of the virus. We needed to show them what happens over and over again when a policeman pulls over an African American male, and tell them the stories of all the deaths that have occurred at the hands of police. Also, tell them about the gap in wages between whites and blacks, and how hard it is to get out of poverty when a society does not view you as a person of value - just because of the color of your skin.
And something else I have vowed to do to not just be talking the talk: educate myself on racism in America by reading books and articles. And something that is much more hard: Speak up when I hear folks disagree about how bad it is, or that the media is overblowing it, or say that phrase that now makes my blood boil, "all lives matter". White privilege is rampantly showing itself these days. But I have more hope than ever that more white people are getting behind the Black Lives Matter movement - marching shoulder to shoulder (please socially distance while you protest, people!), raising voices together to drown out the status quo. George Floyd's death has brought the possibility of true, long-term change. We must never forget him or the many who have been lost before him. THE TIME TO CHANGE IS NOW.
