It’s taken me some time to put my collective thoughts down concerning the events that are happening around America and in other parts of the world. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the videos of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd being murdered. I can only speak for myself, but quite frankly, I never want to see them again...I’m currently drained. They are horrific, disappointing, and a sad reminder that we still haven’t advanced as much as some people would like to think we have since the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.
I had a conversation this week with someone I’ve known for a long time concerning the rioting. Their statement was, ”why aren’t the black pastors in the street trying to stop this?’ My response was “why should black pastors shoulder that responsibility when none of this was initiated by us?” The truth is, we didn’t cause these uprisings. The cause is the governmental systems in place that allow police officers to hide behind their badge and kill us without consequence. What I would like to ask is where are all the “good cops” when their brothers in blue are killing us? Why doesn’t anyone who has privilege speak up for us when the system is doing what it’s designed to do? But we are expected to speak up and stop the uprisings? The uprisings are the effect of the system. The system is laying on us like concrete, and it’s time to take the jackhammers to break it up.
Just because people aren’t attacking the system in the same way, doesn’t mean that whatever they are doing is useless in the fight against injustice. We can’t all do the same thing, or use our voices in the same way. We are but many parts of the same body. Our feet carry us where we need to go, but our hands arrive to the destination at the same time, and they serve two different functions. So while some are on the streets protesting, there are some who may use an economic protest. While some are raising their voices publicly in the streets, there are some of us who use our platforms like social media, or blogging to get a point across. One is just as important as another. Please don’t discount those who are not protesting the same way that you are, or those who aren’t doing what you think they should be doing. If I’m an eye...don’t expect me to be an ear and then get mad at me for not hearing. Allow me to do my job. I‘m seeing clearly...which is the job of the eye.
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