Rioting is what’s going on for sure, because the definition of riot according to Merriam Webster is, a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd. However, the people inciting the riots aren’t necessarily the protestors and not every protest ends with a riot. Have you been seeing videos circulating of the way police have been treating protestors? Lest we not forget why these protests are happening. This started as a protest for George Floyd, and has evolved into a protest for all black lives. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery are the most recent names that come up when talking about homicidal police, but there are so many more lives we are fighting for. The protests are happening because law enforcement has not been upholding its duty to protect its citizens. People in uniform have been using it as a cover to terrorize black communities and kill unarmed black people with impunity.
Indecision
I’m not sure what to even say considering I’ve feverishly written about my frustrations with the way American society sees black people. This decision, though sadly not surprising, has left me in a state of utter hopelessness for the justice system. Though, the justice system has never really offered any sense of solace. It is the justice system that has many times been the justification for mistreatment and condoned racist behavior. It’s hard to think of myself as being an individual or citizen of the world, when events like this turn my world upside down. It’s hard to not feel like an afterthought. On top of that is the feeling of being disenfranchised and irrationally criminalized just because my skin is darker. It’s one of those things that if you truly think about it your head will explode.
With 200+ years of inequality, mental and physical torture, prejudice, and let’s not forget the inescapable pain of racism, black citizens are still fighting for humanity. All the while living in a country, as W.E.B. Dubois so candidly put it, whose systems were not built to protect us. He said this about 100 or so years ago, and it still holds true today.
Except today more people are outraged. Today there are more people who are tired of holding their tongues and following the sordid status quo. Today people are ready for change, fighting for change. Today people are tired of these unforgivable, senseless systems that do more harm than good. Today there is a consensus that America cannot continue on this destructive path of apathy and ignorance. Though it’s hard to hold on to and it seems to be a constant ebb and flow more than a constant feeling, I still have hope for humanity. I still have hope that change will come. Big change. Meaningful change. It has to. It has to or I honestly don’t know how we could progress as a society on all sorts of levels.