4 thoughts on “Gems 6.84”

1. The voice of conscience is very loud in Minneapolis……. sadly…..

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   • Ivor, I wish I had wise words to write here. My heart is broken over the senseless killing of George Floyd, and my prayers and thoughts are with his family. ♥.

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     • It’s very disturbing Niki, that this barbaric discrimination still happens….

     • President Obama wrote eloquently about it and shared a song by a young man that really touched my heart.

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       I want to share parts of the conversations I’ve had with friends over the past couple days about the footage of George Floyd dying face down on the street under the knee of a police officer in Minnesota.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ The first is an email from a middle-aged African American businessman.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ “Dude I gotta tell you the George Floyd incident in Minnesota hurt. I cried when I saw that video. It broke me down. The ‘knee on the neck’ is a metaphor for how the system so cavalierly holds black folks down, ignoring the cries for help. People don’t care. Truly tragic.”⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ Another friend of mine used the powerful song that went viral from 12-year-old Keedron Bryant to describe the frustrations he was feeling.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ The circumstances of my friend and Keedron may be different, but their anguish is the same. It’s shared by me and millions of others.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ It’s natural to wish for life “to just get back to normal” as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly “normal” – whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ This shouldn’t be “normal” in 2020 America. It can’t be “normal.” If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣ It will fall mainly on the officials of Minnesota to ensure that the circumstances surrounding George Floyd’s death are investigated thoroughly and that justice is ultimately done. But it falls on all of us, regardless of our race or station – including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day – to work together to create a “new normal” in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts.

       A post shared by Barack Obama (@barackobama) on May 29, 2020 at 9:08am PDT

       My friend E (Born In Providence) also wrote beautifully and from her grief and lit a path ahead.

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       “Dream the world as it ought to be.”-Toni Morrison When I was 3 or 4 years old I witnessed three police officers beat and hit and smash and kick my Puerto Rican neighbor until he stopped moving. No one came, except my neighbor, Glen, to take me out of the street. And then it was back to business as usual in the projects. It wasn’t until doing EMDR three years ago that I actually spoke about what I’d seen, mostly because up until this point in my life I didn’t have the time, money or emotional safety to deal with it. And still, I woke up screaming two weeks ago. It took me nearly 40 years to mourn one man’s life taken by the kind of violence I routinely witnessed growing up, the kind of violence that hasn’t stopped. I am not sharing this story to take away from the memory or activism resulting from the death of our brother George, but rather to extend my solidarity in being part of the solution. Much love.

       A post shared by e (@borninprovidence) on May 28, 2020 at 11:18pm PDT

       I have been crying off and on all morning, grief, frustration, anger all combined. May we know better, then do better. May we all stand up and say “No more.” May we dream and work and with every good choice create a new world. May this evil be vanquished and silenced. May peace prevail.
       May justice be done.

       ♥.

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