Word usually come easily to me. But the murder of George Floyd and the dozens of innocent black Americans...I just...for the first time in my life I truly don't know what to write to express my anger, bitterness, and heartbreak that I doubt time will ever mend.
Nothing I put to paper is capable of consolation or inspiration; it would be likes slapping on a flimsy Band-Aid on a searing bullet wound, or flesh charred by the ravaging wildfire of the systematic brutality and horror of this country's very fabric.
However, it's substantially better to stutter than be silent, to raise one's voice than to hide. Honestly, I don't even think the latter should exist in the face of horrific injustice like this.
All of my life, the beliefs handed down to me by my family have sheltered me in this picture perfect illusion, a delicate mirage. The American dream...if you work hard enough and aren't afraid to be bold...the world's yours to take on. Equity, equality of opportunity, makes that possible for every single beating heart with a dream. That's what my mother told me, anyway.
You don't need me to tell you how wrong she was.
Being a minority, rather in my case the "model minority", I've been conditioned to focus on things I could control. Always lectured that I couldn't change the world until I changed myself, a relevant sentiment, but here translating to keeping my head down and staying quiet if it doesn't impact me personally. Shun the world, they told me. Look out for yourself.
I thought I knew what fear was until my eyes, blurry with angry tears, scrolled down those news stories, the murder toll climbing, and climbing, and climbing. Trayvon Martin. Ahmaud Arbery. Kennedy Watkins. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd.
Say their names, LOUD, because they're not just nameless faces and printed letters. They were Americans, killed in cold blood, killed by not only the most heartless and disgusting of people, but also by the most hateful and disgusting system of oppression. A system we pretend not to hear, not to see, just because we don't feel it like a daily yoke on our shoulders, shoving us to the grounds, like chattel, like something less than human. Just because their murderers were "a few bad apples".
No, it's not just the apples, it's the tree, the roots of this country stained with the blood and tears and screams of slavery, seeded in every one of us awakening to it, every hateful pattern of thinking, every cruelty and every guilt. It was never completely gone, just marketed better in seemingly innocuous packaging with the most sinister of intents codified in our laws.
I beg you, and I shouldn't have to, but I am.
You can't just brush it off because you're not racist. That isn't, and never should have been, enough. You MUST be anti-racist, and assert it, stand up for it, fight for it...because if you don't...if we young people don't...who the hell will?!
How can you pledge allegiance to the flag when you couldn't even pledge allegiance to its values of justice, liberty, and humanity, to defend and love and raise your voice for your fellow citizens, for Americans? DO something about it instead of crying yourself to sleep.
SIGN the petition.
CALL directly to demand justice.
DONATE if you can.
PROTEST.
Be PROACTIVE, be WATCHFUL.
Pray, listen, and EDUCATE yourself, CHALLENGE your conditioned thinking and be empathetic to the sufferings of your brothers and sisters.
And make sure to hope.
Hope and work hard to END this, to stand up and shout for those who whisper, for those who can't, for those buried six feet under. As Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope".
So commit to it. Keep reading, keep sharing, keep talking, and don't give up hope. Ever.
Us Americans won't go down without a fight for what we believe in, for the values we cherish, for our compatriots, and for posterity. Don't give up, and when you find yourself doing so....say their names.
About the Creator
Mia O
"Here's looking at you, kid."
Well-Intentioned Whistleblower or Opportunist?
“I want to believe that you're telling the truth But something tells me don't trust you” – Agnostic Front When a family enrolls a child in a school, the district immediately starts incurring expenses. Space must be reserved for each student and teachers assigned to those classrooms. The district must ensure that textbooks and other supplies are available. These costs are constant and do not change when a child misses a day of school.
By Carl J. Petersenabout 11 hours ago in The Swamp
Rivers of Death
Rivers bring water the element essential to all life on Earth but wherever rivers flow they also bring death surprise attacks Savage kills and brutal fights every day is a battle for survival on these rivers of [Applause] death I'm under the African Sun Staying Alive is hot thirsty work and among the ranks of animals jostling to get a drink lurk Killers waiting to strike but while Lions may be fearsome and the huge Nile crocodiles ruthless Predators one of the continent's deadliest River Killers is mostly vegetarian renowned wallowers spending up to 16 hours a day lounging in the water hippos could be mistaken for relaxed creatures and yet the river horse as their name translates from ancient Greek can be a very angry pony indeed with tusks up to a foot and a half long hippos are literally armed to the teeth and a charging bull Hipp can impact with the weight force of a pickup truck what's more hippos May brutally defend their territory an Impala has been chased into a muddy Watering Hole by a lion it's stuck but for fortunately for the stricken analou the lion is reluctant to follow it into the Meer unfortunately it finds itself in the domain of a hippo ill disposed to uninvited guests the hippo's not stealing the watching Lion's meal she's most likely just aggressively defending her calf and the Impala pays the ultimate price for crossing a doting mother hippos are thought to kill more people each year than the rest of Africa's most dangerous animals combined and during mating season their ruthless aggression is directed at other hippos two bulls square up the pod's dominant male and a Challenger at stake the Riverbanks Prime mating territory and a Herm of females the dominant male puts on an aggressive display posturing to show he will not yield but the interloper Demands a fight finally the dominant male is Victorious the Conqueror celebrates with a dung shower marking the border of the territory he has successfully defended while the vanquished suffers more than just the agony of defeat his back is carved open and by Sunset the crocodiles are watching closely they'd be unlikely to take on a bull in rude Health but now they Circle an expectation the hippo breathes his last the price of insurrection is life his Hulk will not go to waste the crocodiles move in swiftly to Feast on the corpse for these voracious Predators it's a considerable meal but one dead hippo is a mere snack compared with the annual Feast provided by a particular African river each year the serengetti vast grass Plains filled to the Horizon with grazing animals taking part in one of Nature's greatest spectacles around 1 and2 million wilder beast join 700,000 other herbivores on the Great Migration around 1 in six of these migrants will die before completing the 500 M circuit many are outrun and taken down down by Africa's formidable array of Savannah carnivores their Journey coming to a Grizzly end but one of the deadliest single obstacles the vast herds must Traverse is the mara River after 3 months on the move the wilderbeast are exhausted and emaciated all that separates them from the Fresh pastures of the msai mara is the width of the river and a whole bunch of huge ravit Nile crocodiles despite the chilling threat posed by these powerful Predators some of the herd are either oblivious to the danger or so thirsty they dare to take a drink anyway for an unlucky few it will be their last and these witless victims merely wet the Croc's appetite the true Feast begins when the first of the herd Braves the river in the crush and Chaos of the crossing the 16t Crocs grabs scores of victims when 1,600 lb of musc futile the marus Crocs survive on meager rations for most of the year so take full advantage of the great migrations time of Plenty they Gorge themselves eating up to half their body weight in one sitting and with so many different species crossing the river the banquet is as varied as it is Bountiful but not all Africa's Crocs have such an easy meal ticket on the banks of this Kenyon River a Croc has got too close to a pack of feeding Lions a move it's about to regret it's a fierce attack but the Crocs skin is covered in bony armor plating eventually the Lion's Uninvited Guest Retreats having taught the Crocs and dinner manners the big cats return to the carcass the Amazon is a giant of a river and and conceal some monstrous Predators which kill with a crush and in a bloody frenzy draining a lowland Basin of close to 3 million square miles around 1/5 of the water that runs off the earth's surface is carried by the Amazon this giant of a river is renowned for its oversized residence both prey and Predator around 4 ft long and and weighing as much as an adult human capibara are the world's largest rodent they're
By cacloaidongvat3 days ago in The Swamp
The Business of Nature
Dew drops reflected the light of the sun. The inhabitants of Whispering Woods woke up to the golden droplets of water on the leaves of the flora. The oaks particularly enjoyed the light and the maples did, too. Happiness enveloped all who lived there, even the rocks that cried out in the night delighted in the morning.
By Skyler Saundersabout 13 hours ago in Fiction
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