The fact that there was a global pandemic going on apparently wasn't quite enough. The fact that it unfairly affected people of color, especially black people, wasn't enough. No. Police brutality couldn't be eradicated or even put on pause. Nope. Because there just wasn't enough shit.
If you want more of my specific thoughts on this matter, you can click this link to my 2020: A Recap posted on June 1, 2020. More random thoughts of mine at this link.
To sum up: America is a racist country. All of our systems are built in such a way as to hurt people of color, especially black people. I would say that for the most part it is 100% intentional. This isn't going to change unless everybody makes it happen. Black people get killed by the police regularly and the violence doesn't end. And if you look closer you can see that it isn't just the police force that hurts black people. The way housing in the United States works hurts black people. The health care system hurts black people. The daily wear and tear on people of color from the constant barrage of microagressions is documented to adversely affect the health of black people and people of color. Pay disparities that are built into our capitalist system hurt black people.
Listen I know, I know that these systems damage native people too. Our entire society is built on ways to benefit white people while deeply damaging anyone that is not white. I don't want to ignore the pain that is afflicted on other groups. Indigenous people, Latinos, Asians are all hurt and disadvantaged by the racism that hurts black people. I get that. I'm not trying to marginalize that. It's my fervent hope that if we fix the systems so that we stop hurting black people it will be so that it stops hurting all people of color because that shit is messed up.
I'll leave off with a couple of quotes.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects on directly, affects all indirectly." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
"And if the social contract is broken, why the fuck do I give a shit about burning the fucking football hall of fame or about burning a fucking Target? You broke the contract when you killed us in the street and didn't give a fuck!... ...As far as I'm concerned they could burn this bitch to the ground. And it still wouldn't be enough. And, they are lucky that what black people are looking for is equality and not revenge." - Kimberly Jones, NAACP Image Award Nominated author and speaker of the truth Watch her speak, click this link!
Washington DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser, had the street to the White House painted with Black Lives Matter! And changed the name to Black Lives Matter Plaza!! So freakin' cool!! I love this so very much!! I want streets all over America painted with this! I want this message tattooed into our nation's bones!
My friend is a public defender in Orange County and these a pictures from their demonstration for Black Lives.
In my little town these signs appeared.
However, I'm sad to say all the signs about white silence equaling white violence have been ripped down and the art installation someone started was vandalized. So I guess my predominate white college town is not so progressive. This saddens me but doesn't surprise me.
According to Wikipedia the 2010 census found that my town was 64.9% white, 21.9% Asian, 12.5% Latino (of any race), 5.4% from two or more races, 2.3% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 4.8% from other races.
UPDATE! As of June 11, 2020 the art installation was back in almost the same spot!!!
Also, I wasn't able to get a photo of it because it was too dark, but there is a George Floyd roadside memorial at the intersection by the Trader's Joe and campus! I'll try to get a photo!! Here is the George Floyd roadside memorial!
And while all of this is happening, there's also been an effort to uncover pay disparity in the publishing world. Here are some tweets I took screenshots of.
UPDATE: I love this. Popular Mechanics has posted an article about how to topple a statue using science since you know confederate statues need to come down and if local governments won't perhaps the people will take matters into their own hands.
In case you missed it, watch John Oliver talk about the police in the US.
And you know I love Chris Mann, so here it is.
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