A Man Named George

In 1992 I watched as Los Angeles riots almost burned that city to the ground after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the (LAPD) for the beating of Rodney King, which had been videotaped and widely viewed on tv.

Now 28 years later here we are again.With the death of George Floyd at the hands or rather the knee of the police.

  

At some point if we don't do the hard work of working towards a solution we'll be right back in the same situation. 

Now not all police are corrupt there are some great ones I know personally.

All we want is for there to be an end to the unsolicited killing  of unarmed Black citizens by law enforcement.

We're not talking about people who are in the midst of committing a crime or harming citizens.

When Martin Luther King said "I had a dream".

He also gave us a very stark warning of what type of fight that black people were going to have to endure.

After standing up to the likes of Bull Connor and the horrible  laws of jim crow and helping black folks in America to be given their civil rights. He stated.

“I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply. We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know we will win, but I have come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house. I’m afraid that America has lost the moral vision she may have had, and I’m afraid that even as we integrate, we are walking into a place that does not understand that this nation needs to be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears the soul of this nation. I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.”

There is an insane amount to unpack in that statement.

But the mere fact that this was said more then 50 years ago and we are still grappling with these issues mean we have a long way to go.

So the next step is what can we do? Burning your community down and tearing shit up certainly won't help. 

As far as marching and holding candle light vigils to quote the late great Tupac Shakur "We been marching so long we got anniversary marches for the marches we had 25 years ago"

Become informed about black culture not just the the story of African Americans but the rich history of black people from all over.

Ask about the history of the word "Honkey" it has about three different origins and always stops a crowd.

Call out bigotry and racism we all got that family member or co-worker who swears he can't stand that "nigger" that cut him off in traffic but likes you cause you're not like them yea.... call him out. Heck I've stopped dinners and gatherings and have been ready to throw people out of my house by asking them to run back that snide racist comment or a joke that puts down natives or other people of color.

In the end these conversation will be uncomfortable and painful.

But that's actually a good thing there needs to be some form of discomfort in order for things to move forward. Like the conversation i'll need to have with my daughters when they come home from school wondering why some kid called them some racial slur.

Or the discussions I still need to have and have had with grown ass adults who think its cute to call my kids or or other mixed race children mulato.

The desire to slap the every loving shit out of some one for these and the laundry list of insults people throw your way. Based on the color of your skin is ever present but violence as we're seeing play out in america is a zero sum game.

I'll leave you with this one of the most real ways we can battle all of this is through unity.

When long time enemy of all things decent and former F.B.I director J. Edgar Hoover was asked what in his opinion was the single greatest threat to the United States of America, he responded "Negro unity"I would like to reframe that quote and state that its not a threat and that unity is inclusive to everyone who is just sick and tired of this and wants a change.