As I sit here and watch the events at our national capital unfold, I am just DISGUSTED! I don't think there is another word I can use. The very fact that we are at this moment in history is amazing. I watched in utter amazement as one of "those" individuals storms inside the Capitol Building and basically DARES Capitol Police to do something. The LONE officer evidently is calling for back up and leads them up into the rotunda area where additional officers are and they VERBALLY NEGOTIATE WITH HIM?? Say what? If that had been a person of color, they would have been tackled on sight, possibly shot! They KNEW their plans. They KNEW the potential, yet they were horribly outnumbered!
I'm watching with my 13 year old daughter who attends a predominately white school, where is she is only one of a few people of color in her class. She is sitting here saying how can this go on like this--didn't they use tear gas when [insert name] wanted to go across the street and hold up a Bible? The disparity between the reaction of this and the Black Lives Matter protests is GLARING! I am angry, annoyed, aggravated!! This has been four years in the making! These people have been emboldened over the years to the point where misinformation is ingrained in them--where PRIVILEGE is a GIVEN for them.
The title of this blog is actually the title of a book written by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967. This was his fourth and final book that advocated for human rights and a sense of hope. He wrote around what he referred to as the "evil triplets": militarism, racism, and poverty. It was also written at the height of the Vietnam War that was claiming countless lives. He saw the nation at a crossroads, that a "radical revolution of values" was needed. He was killed by an assassin a year later, yet his question remains valid to this day--53 years later.
Here we are...January 6, 2021. Where do we go from here?? Right now, we have chaos. We have a "president" who has failed in his oath to uphold the Constitution. He has emboldened this group to do what they are doing and hours later, we are still here...chaos. There is no law. There is no order. Their very treatment is contrary to many other events over the course of our nation where peaceful protestors were tear gassed, they had dogs set on them, water hoses put on them to knock them down, they were hit with billy clubs, and all they wanted was equal treatment under the law.
I'm sad...what will nightfall bring? What will tomorrow bring? I couldn't even bring myself to add any additional images to this post because I REFUSE to memorialize HATE! Pray for our country. Pray for our incoming national leaders. Pray for each other. HATE...it's a serious thing. When it festers...the results can be deadly. And COMMUNITY will be a fleeting thing.