I have thoughts about George Floyd, police brutality, and the...

I have thoughts about George Floyd, police brutality, and the virus that’s underneath all of it, racism. I wrote about this the other day, Typewriter Series #2977, and within moments of posting it a white person said that I was wrong, that ALL lives matter, the same rhetoric that has excused and explained racist, bigoted behavior for far too many years. If all lives mattered, Black lives would matter, and the startling reality in this divided joke of a country is that they absolutely do not. Nearly two hundred years ago our country went to war about slavery, an issue that divided us then, and divides us still up to the highest reaches of our insane federal government. Nearly three decades ago, a man was beaten within a half inch of his life by police, riots ensued, pop culture references from Tupac to Fresh Prince on this targeted brutality towards people of color followed, nothing changed. Over a decade ago, this country elected its first ever black president, still our nation was split, still nothing changed. Nearly half a decade ago, a football player took a knee during the anthem, was outcasted, and still, nothing changed. Then, now, still, thousands of people of color live in fear of those sworn to protect them, they are targeted, harassed, abused, beaten, and murdered as still, Nothing changes. We are a broken place, built on the backs of stolen souls brought here as slaves, as property, and as hard as Lincoln fought to stop this, still, nothing has changed. All lives cannot matter until Black lives do, and until we born with white skin and privilege can stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves without their hands needing to be raised into the air, nothing will change. This is a fight that’s been going for years, and the time is now to fight harder than ever before, to stand with all people of color, to use our privilege to stop pretending we “don’t see color” and start celebrating the color we do see, start protecting the rights of those who are losing theirs on a daily basis. The time is now to say ENOUGH, admit the divide, that there’s a right and wrong side to this fight, and to stop trying so hard to pretend that’s not true. Enough. (at Helena, Montana)

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