Let me start with I will never know what it is like to be a person of color – any color. I am about as white as you can be. All I can do is express my shock and outrage at what we saw on that footage from Minneapolis and express my support to my friends of color and understand their angst and outrage. I cannot imagine having to live life wondering if the next time I got in a car, or out for a jog, or down the corner to get some iced tea and skittles or a pack of cigarettes could be THE time where everything goes south.
Unfortunately, some people don’t need a reason to act the way they have, but to think that you could die simply because of the color of your skin is baffling to me. The concept of race relations and racism and discrimination are topics for a different post. At this time, I can simply say I feel your hurt, your frustration, and your pain. I can, and will, lend an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, arms extended to comfort, but most importantly a raised voice to join in the chorus rising from ALL parts of this country that enough is enough.
While I can feel your frustration, I cannot condone the violence and vandalism that is raining down on our cities. These are not acts of justice and it does nothing but mar the memory of what happened to Mr. Floyd. I know most protestors are peaceful and want meaningful change, and that the violence and anarchy of the scenes are being sown by a radical few or those that feel that all hope is lost and there is nothing else to try. But it needs to stop. We cannot destroy where we shop and live; we can NOT prevent first responders from trying to do their jobs and save lives and property. All it is doing is fertilizing the seeds of division and letting those who wish to exploit the situation to point to these acts as justification for future acts.
I know the time of unity seems past, and dialogue useless. But this is now the time more than ever for us to join together and act as one nation, indivisible to raise us to the land that Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of where a man is “not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of his character.” It may not be today, or in my lifetime, but from the depths of my soul I think one day we will get there… It is our job to keep us moving down the road towards that destination.
A View from the Purple Seats 