Black Lives Matter

Every day we see the same thing, police brutality. Black and brown brothers and sisters downtrodden in the streets because they dare exercise their constitutional right to assembly. Every day we see the same thing. My great-grandfather came from a country, not unlike this one. They were invaded by a populous leader who told his people that what he would do would help them would set their country back on track. What he didn’t tell them was the cost. When the headline read, “Hitler invades Poland,” the German people cheered, and the Polish wept.

Some believe that we are on the brink of another civil war. This is an invasion, an invasion of our homes, and an invasion of our streets, nay our very lives; because the enemy is more sinister and more careful. They invade our airways, they invade our hearts and minds, because that’s how they win. They want to convince us that what they are doing is just and that the protesters are the new enemy. It’s the same playbook only now instead of the Jewish people; it’s the black and brown community.

Every time in American history, when the establishment is threatened, they create a new “them”. All you have to look at is Vietnam, Iraq, North Korea, or, more recently, Mexico. Always, it seems that the enemy is a color other than the silver-haired white elect. An electorate that has pumped this country for all its worth and then some. This time it’s different; this time, American troops are being deployed not in some distant land to obliterate a “brown them”. This time they are being deployed in our neighborhoods, in our metro areas, in the hotbed of the disenfranchised Americans who want nothing more than to live there lives free of oppression.

The root of this problem is not Don the Con, aka Donald Trump, the source of this problem is an under-educated populous that elected him. A populous that follows party lines despite ample evidence that their party is corrupt and both parties are at fault. Democrats and Republicans. Democrats for sticking to their guns and doubling down on a failing campaign in 2016 alienating half of their electorate in the process because of simple name recognition and desperation to get another “First in the White House”. Republicans for backing a clearly racist and LGBTQ-a-phobe, who’s only goal in the oval seems to promote himself and stroke his ego.

In the words of Thurgood Marshall, one of our country’s highest judges and the first black man to sit on the nation’s highest court, “We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred, and mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand…We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.” He knew of the injustices being done to his people; he would be ashamed of what America has become.

Learning from History.

It’s fair to say that many parallels can be drawn between the current administration and the president who we can thank for coining the term “Watergate.” Nixon was a proud American who was deeply flawed, yes. Still, at least he had the human decency to resign from office when it was clear the populous was against him.

Nixon, too appealed to the so-called “Silent Majority,” much like this current president. On May 4, 1969, at the height of the hippie counterculture, he ordered National Guardsmen to put down a peaceful demonstration that ended with four dead students; this administration has had a similar moment when the Donald ordered the military and secret service members to clear a path from the White House to St. John’s church. Unlike Nixon, it wasn’t just to put down protests; it was to pose for a photo op only to stroke his own ego.

I will say that Nixon wasn’t all bad, not that I ever thought I would say those words. He did desegregate schools, funded Sickle-cell research, and helped establish the Medicaid. All of those benefitted the black and brown community. However, they came at a high cost to those communities because of systemic racism. This president has done nothing to help. If anything, he has rolled back those achievements in favor of a campaign of hate and lies.

Black Lives Matter

Now we come to the heart of the matter to July 2013, when George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Travon Martin. To the 2014 deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. To the numerous untold murders of black and brown men and women in police custody. Who's only crime was being born of a different color. All culminating in the death of George Floyd, who’s final words will live in our hearts forever, “I can’t breathe!”

We can no longer ignore the cries of our fellow Americans. We, as the silent white, are culpable for their suffering because we failed to act. Now we must embody those words spoken by Thurgood Marshall, “We must dissent from the indifference.” We must stand proud with our black and brown brothers and sisters and say, “Black Lives Matter!”

Of course, all lives matter, but it is black lives that are in danger! So, at this moment, we must say black lives matter because we are all human. We are all American.

For at this moment, we must dissent from the fear. We must dissent from the injustice. We must dissent from the establishment and say, “BLACK LIVES MATTER!”