A Few Words on the State of Our American Society

This is going to be relatively brief, and to the point.

The murder of George Floyd was a disgusting, reprehensible and heinous act that has as little place in our society as the murders of other African Americans by police like Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Jamar Clark, Philando Castille and countless others.

The nonchalance with which the officer in question in Floyd’s murder used is chilling, and speaks to the absolute indifference he had for whether or not this human being took another breath.

And as the number of victims continues to grow, as police officers use paint rounds on people merely standing on their own porches, on their own property. As the President uses tear gas on his own citizens for an insignificant, little photo opportunity, enough has become enough.

In all honesty, enough was enough 400 years ago.

Police need to start behaving with more care for the lives that they know they hold in their hands. That goes for whoever they are interacting with: black, brown, white, blue, whomever. Our government should not consider anyone’s life disposable. But it ESPECIALLY goes for those who have been perpetually disenfranchised.

Now I am not going to belabor my point. The frustration I feel as a white man is minuscule to the pain, anguish and fear that some that don’t look like me likely feel right now. For me to make this moment about me would be a disservice to them.

But we all bare responsibility. Our government at every level is a reflection of ourselves. That’s what popular sovereignty is all about. The preamble of the US Constitution begins: “We the People, in order to perform a more perfect union”.

Let’s make this union more perfect. Let’s eliminate the errors of our ancestors.

This isn’t going to get resolved with a Tweet, Facebook post, or with this entry. It won’t be resolved with a couple of weeks of protesting either. It will take long, deliberate action by individual people purposefully doing the right thing.

This is a link to #8CantWait. Its a project that’s been put together to do scientific analysis on the methods police forces can use to reduce the number of deaths they encounter. They have come up with 8 policies that can be enacted by police forces throughout the country.

Change will come through protest and the enlightening of hearts and minds. Beautiful work has already begun there, but there needs to be an end game. There needs to be actual policy. I encourage the readers of this space to become educated from sources like #8CantWait and become civically involved. Getting policies enforced like the ones described there will ensure that our society doesn’t fall back into its nastiest and most dangerous indiscretions.

In short, its cool to vote. Its cool to be civically involved. Its cool to care about those that both do and don’t look like you. Its even cooler to try to take action and even cooler than that to continue to care about this six months and six years from now.

In even shorter, Black Lives Matter. And they will continue to as long as we say they do.