We have some to a pivotal time in our country when white people such as myself need to say these works "Black lives matter!" Some might day, "well, don't 'all lives matter?'" Yes, that is true, and because that is true, we are outraged that black people keep ending up dead for doing things like walking with hoodie (Trayvon Martin) or jogging (Ahmaud Arbery) or many cases of just being stopped by the police.
Trayvon Martin's case was 7 years ago now! Not much has changed! Racism persists.
Racism persists in blatant and latent ways. The obvious includes blatant racists statements or actions. The latent includes aspects of our upbringing and fears we have inside. A white person may say they are not racist, but what is going through their minds when they see a black man ahead, or a couple of black teens ahead, while walking down the street at night? Or if they see a black person where they don't expect to see one? I don't know about others, but the thought comes to my mind. I suspect this toxic stuff is in the minds of many a "liberal" or "not racist" white person.
The other latent persistence of racism is within the government, be it the police, the courts, the prisons, politicians, and social services. A good example that I heard on the radio yesterday. Why do many cops who've killed unarmed black people get exonerated in court? Well, the standard that the jury is given is to ask themselves, "what would a 'reasonable' police officer do in the moment, knowing what he/she knows at the moment, and without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight that comes after the fact?" With this standard, it's typically a revolving door: go to trial, but get a verdict of innocent, and back to work. There is a Federal precedent that police cannot use "unreasonable" force, but the standard given to the jury tends to favor the police, giving them the benefit of the doubt because, at the time, they didn't know everything about the circumstances.
Defund/Restructure/Eliminate the Police
These seem like really radical ideas, but not if we look a famous historic document, the Declaration of Independence:
All people "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Note this statement: "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends" (in this case, namely the unalienable right to life), "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
With black people being killed by agents of the Government, "it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
If the police departments as currently structured are destructive of protecting black lives, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish the police departments.
If the current standards in our courts are destructive of providing justice in the taking of black lives, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
My conclusion is that it's the American way to alter or to abolish those portions of our government that have become destructive to the ends of protecting black lives.
Now we need to get to the work of change!
Now we need to get to the work of change!
