The question I have is what is the end game of all this madness? I keep hearing this mantra from people I know, the media, celebrities and political figures say, ” Buildings and property and can be replaced, but lives cannot.” As I watched so many cities, local and across the nation, being destroyed, the depravity is unconscionable and feels beyond counterproductive to what this is all about. None of it makes sense.
For the first time in my lifetime, I saw a nation completely come together and condemn a heinous act of police officers towards another human being, a citizen, a black man. There was no debate. It was crystal clear the evil that is happening. The conversation of change was gaining momentum by leaps and bounds. People of all walks of life went out to support change through peaceful protesting. The leaders of communities even gave latitude to vent. Then it turned dark. All the momentum of unity was snuffed out and the narrative changed to this insane mantra of supporting the destruction of our communities in the name of protesting.
In just a matter of days we are back screaming at each other, afraid of each other and hating each other. I don’t agree with the idea that destroying a city or a community drives a point and will avenge a heinous history of unfair treatment of our citizens of color. It has not been productive and effective in the past, in fact it made things worse. It incites something so far from where this started. We are still in throws of a community economic nightmare of a pandemic and now our communities look like a war zone by the hands of our own citizens. These buildings and property were jobs, livelihoods, dreams and security. These action could be the final KO to so many.
So I ask those that keep saying that buildings and property can be rebuilt, what is the goal? Is it to completely bring the US to our knees with the hope when the smoke clears, all racism and hate is gone? Is it about making citizens pay for injustice or feel the pain of what people of color feel? What is the justification and support for this? Because before this happened we were on the track towards waking up and wiping the sleep of complacency from our eyes. There was a second of hope. There was this moment of thought that even though we could not bring back George Floyd, we could make his name be something powerfully good for our country and start the real healing. Now, I fear that moment has gone and I am not sure what our future brings.
*Apparently it took a pandemic and the US being destroyed due to racial injustice to bring me back to the Pie Hole. Glad to be back writing, sad on the reasons.
A Piece of the Pie Hole 