BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM, SORT OF

Open to everyone

"Open to everyone"

My brain is clogged up with science talks and all my thoughts and feelings of being in Portland. The good news is that I'm not going any where for a while, so I have plenty of time to process all of it. In the meantime, I have unpacked my suitcase, finished the laundry, dusted the house and uploaded over three thousand pictures to Amazon. I'm looking into an external hard drive before I delete them all from this computer. I'm acclimating. By acclimating, I mean I'm going through the motions of being back to normal and I'm relying on someone else to think and make decisions for me.  Michael determined the meal plan for this week and made the grocery list. He's done a really good job. Actually, I think he's just happy that he kept everyone alive while I was gone. Four chickens, one cat and one dog is a lot.

I realized at one point yesterday that it's been one year since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson MO. Todd and I had several discussions on race while I was visiting him. None of those conversations ended with any kind of answer. I thought that things would improve, that Michael Brown would be the tragedy that would make people wake up and pull it together. Then I thought that things only seemed to be worse. Todd brought up a really good point about this. He said that it's because we have instant knowledge of what is happening. He's right. Everyone has a cell phone with a camera on it. It's not that there's been this sudden increase in violence against blacks by police. This is a problem that has been going on for way longer than it should be.  The reason it looks like more is only because I've finally opened my eyes to it. 

Life isn't fair. We cannot change the cards we are dealt. These are sayings that we have all heard.  But what about justice. Life shouldn't be unjust. Life shouldn't be about constantly watching your back because the people who are supposed to protect and serve apparently took an oath to protect and serve only white people. I do not want my tax dollars being spent on salaries for those kinds of police officers. All lives matter. Race isn't a reason to treat this person better than the other. Race is the thing that makes each of us unique and beautiful. Race contains our histories and is something to be proud of.  Lately, I'm not so proud of my own race. It's like we've just kept this perpetual ball of anger, hate and discrimination rolling throughout history. 

I don't want to be part of the generation that stops that ball from rolling on because the ball should have been stopped generations ago by those who came before me. We have self driving cars. We walk around with tiny computers in our pockets. We've eradicated smallpox for God's sake. It's long past time to eradicate discrimination based on race or anything for that matter.  Except we haven't. It's been left up to us to stop that perpetual ball of anger, hate and discrimination from rolling any further. By now that ball is too large and moving too fast for me to stop it alone. So I'm asking help from you guys. Do you think we could all maybe work together on this?

VERDICT

It's still Fall.

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I was listening to an interview on NPR this morning with a girl who was among the peaceful protesters in Ferguson last night. She said that she was in college at the moment, studying law enforcement. Last night's verdict has made her rethink her law enforcement career. She said that she didn't see the point because there's no justice. I will not talk about what I think of the grand jury's verdict to not charge Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown. It doesn't matter what I think because this story, these events, are not about me. No one cares what I think about this verdict. It's just another verdict in a long list of un-just verdicts. I won't go into all of that. This message is for that girl in the interview.

You see, these events like the Michael Brown case is a regular event. Time and time this happens and all the children see are people of authority abusing their power. As an adult we know it's a little bit more complex that this. But if you look at this situation through the eyes of a kid in this neighborhood, it looks like cops kill black men and in particularly, unarmed black men. This is what they grow up believing. And because there's never any accountability, these kids grow up thinking that anyone in authority, most often the white guy, is the bad guy. What reason have we given them to think otherwise? How often do you think these kids have seen a police officer accost or gun down a white man? If you look at the news, it's the crazy white guy that opens fire on you while you're watching a movie at the theater or hanging out in the library, but it's never the one being gunned down by the police officer. Yes there is bias in the media and often the news is interchangeable with the word tabloid. But remember, we're talking about a child's mind, they things they see and what they learn from the things they are seeing. 

So here is what I want to say to that girl thinking of a career in law enforcement. DON'T QUIT! A fire only needs a spark to turn into a blaze. You are that spark. You can make a difference. You can create change. You can be the voice of justice. You can. I know you can. You can be that person of authority that those kids can look up to and no longer fear because they know that you are there to truly protect and serve. Please do not give up on your dream. Without you and dreamers like you, we will just be creating an endless loop of repeating history. Stop the loop. Show these kids that there is fairness and justice. And while your at it, recruit. Tell your friends how great it makes you feel to be in law enforcement and making a difference. Just, whatever you do, please, don't give up. 

WATCH

I woke up around one AM Sunday morning. There where lights flickering through my window. A red flickering light through the white curtains. At first I thought the house next door was on fire. I jumped up and put on clothes. Michael was already out front when I peeked out the door. Two cop cars had pulled over a vehicle. They had black man standing in front of one of the cars. I could tell his hands were behind his back. I asked Michael if he knew what was going on.  He didn't, but he had seen them search the vehicle. It is illegal for police to search a vehicle without probable cause, which does not include a routine traffic stop. I don't know if this was a routine traffic stop, but Michael and I stood there and watched.

It seemed like something we should do after the events in Ferguson. Being witnesses just in case. I don't know why they pulled over the car, if the young man driving had done something wrong. We could hear the officers talking, but couldn't make out the words. We watched two of the officers search the front seat and pull something out of the car. I stood there barely breathing and trying to notice details. The officers never raised their voices and stood back from the young man at a respectful distance. We didn't witness the cops being belligerent. We didn't witness the young man resisting or being disrespectful. Everyone was calm and so we went inside. Shortly after we went in, the lights turned off and all the cars left the scene without incident. 

I'm sure the cops knew that the neighborhood was watching. We couldn't have been the only ones paying attention, but I don't think any of us were concerned about what the detained man would do. We were all watching the cops. What where the cops going to do? How were they going to react? This is what we were paying attention too. We have become a world responsible for each other and making sure those people of authority don't take advantage of this. Would we have stood watch before Ferguson? Would we have stood with waited breaths, phones at the ready to record what may happen next? I don't know, but I feel that it's more important than ever to pay attention. The change starts with us keeping watch over each other, holding each other accountable for our actions. 

We are responsible for each other.