A global pandemic. High unemployment. George Floyd.
You’d have to be blind not to see that we — as a country — are in a world of hurt. We are making inroads against COVID-19 with death figures lowering …even in the hardest-hit areas of our nation. As states re-open, jobs are coming back. Slowly, yes..but still a positive thing.
It’s the last one that burns quite a bit.
I’ve gotten to know a few police officers in my career. All of them — I believe — would agree that George Floyd did not have to die. He did. There’s nothing we can do about that fact. We can affect future occurrences of Floyd’s circumstance.
We as a society must realize that…despite Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947, ‘I Have A Dream’ in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Barbara Jordan’s election to Congress in 1972, Guion Bluford’s space shuttle flight in 1983. Charley Pride being inducted into the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1993 and Barack Obama’s presidential wins in 2008 and 2012…race is still an issue in America.
Now we’re seeing it more and more. In an interview with Stephen Colbert a few years back..his guest said this:
“Racism isn’t getting worse.
It’s getting filmed.”
–Will Smith
Because of that fact..it’s now in our face. What are we going to do about it?
I’m a black man. Those closest to me are concerned each day I walk out my front door. I am as well about the people I love when they do.
What saddens me is that with the protests we’ve seen..a lot of people are screaming but hardly anyone is actually listening. The listening is where it starts.
Well..listen to this from usually gruff..but always blunt San Antonia Spurs head basketball coach Gregg Popovich:
George Floyd has joined a list his family would rather he not be on. One that includes Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and Breonna Taylor among others. Even the greatest nation on Earth has its open wounds. For those wounds to heal..there must be recognition of the problem..across the board..and a willingness on all sides to talk about it.
Only then will America’s states be truly united.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD!! 