The Times They Are a Changin'...Hopefully

(photo from: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2020/06/04/kingston-walk-for-black-lives-march-and-rally-draws-over-1500/)

To say it's been an interesting week, is an understatement. Hell, it's been a turbulent year, with no end in sight. A year that threatens the complete uprooting of our society. For the first time since 9/11, we are living in a powder keg world...whether it explodes or defuses is yet to be seen.

Yesterday, over 1,500 people marched past my house in the biggest coming together moment this town has seen in generations. They marched peacefully, but we should not mistake peace for complacency. There is outrage out there, outrage on so many fronts. Outrage that has been boiling over for years. Outrage that may finally lead to change...real change.

I've seen and read on Social Media the usual responses from those who don't even realize the extent of systemic racism. They criticize the looting, they 'stand with police' because they think this is all about hating the police, they think people want handouts when they should work....all the same retreaded nonsense. To those people I say this:

This is about police tactics and policing policies that discriminate based on color...of course it is. But it's about so much more. 

It's about schools that are unequal based on where you live and your income.

It's about poisoned drinking water.

It's about job opportunities and why people of color have lost their jobs at a higher rate.

It's about health care and why people of color are dying at a higher rate from this pandemic.

It's about housing conditions.

It's about decency, and respect, and equality.

It's about America and the short-comings of our ideal.

And it's about the fact that we have a blatantly racist president who seeks to divide us. A president who gassed peaceful citizens so that he could take a photo in front of a church he doesn't even attend. A president who threatens Americans with vicious dogs for exercising their right to protest. A president who would use the military against his own people.

People are angry. People have been angry. A president who fans those flames is not helping anything. People are going to get angrier. They are going to continue to gather and change will come...one way or another, change is going to come.