Standing in the gap

If life was not hard enough for the nation, trying to bend the curve of this pandemic, recent injustices by the hand of law enforcement or common-folk has cost lives of people of color.

While claims or injustice are due process in court, likewise the justice served on the streets send a verdict of capital punishment and stripped of due process by our constitution.

I am as angered by this racial injustice as if a recent string of violence or death on my own ethnically identified group were victimized.

When my child turns 16, or 12, or 9, do I feel obliged to have a heart to heart talk about the high likelihood of them being stopped by police? How they should restrain themselves, regardless if they are accused of something they did not do? To bite one’s lip, to bow, to lay prostrate on the group, to not resist—based on their skin color and the fact that injury or death is too dear a cost but far too likely to occur—regardless of your street address, job title, appearance, or the fact that you should be protected by the US Constitution. To come home for dinner…

But that is a sad truth for our neighbors and brothers of color, our coworkers, our bosses and teachers, our pastors and politicians.