Two Americas

Democracy in America is far from perfect, hence this blog I created. Fundamental flaws permeate it: voter suppression, the electoral college, gerrymandering etc…. There is a common denominator to a lot of these flaws, the impact on diverse communities across the countries. All deserve a hard look at their impact, but on aggregate, they all add up to the systemic inequality and racism that still exists in this country.

Look no further than the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis this week. In a country, where the foundation of the justice system is “innocent until proven guilty,” a police officer knelt on the back of his neck while he begged for his life saying “I can’t breathe” while other police officers stood by and let the murder happen. George Floyd was unarmed and accused of cashing a bad check. The allegations shouldn’t matter. No person anywhere in the world deserves that fate.

This is just another example of police brutality perpetrated against people of color. Time and time again, the justice system fails to hold the murderers accountable for their actions. Enough is enough.

Two Americas exist. The America for people that are white, identify as heterosexual, Christian, male, or any combination of those labels, can count of certain rights and privileges that everyone else outside of those categories cannot enjoy as fruitfully. It is the reason you grew up seeing mainly people on TV and in Movies that looked like you. It is the reason you can go for a run without getting the cops called on you or worse. It is the reason you could play cops and robbers with toy guns as a kid. It is the reason you can wear a hooded sweatshirt in public without fear. It is the reason you don’t get assaulted by police officers if you get pulled over for a speeding ticket or expired registration. White privilege is a real thing. It’s time to acknowledge it and understand that the American experience is different for people who are not white, heterosexual, Christians.

While acknowledging this good for your own conscience, it is not enough. Clearly decades of struggle to gain equality under the law has not come to fruition yet for people of color. Protesting, marching, organizing has to continue. If you are shocked by how the events have turned out in Minneapolis, you haven’t been paying attention. Peaceful protest has been happening for decades on this issue of police brutality and it has been met by the Conservative community with disparity. The same people calling out the looting going on in Minneapolis are failing to remember two things. First, peaceful protest over this exact issue was happening weekly, in front of millions of people, that drew ire from the President and his conservative support system. It looked like this:

NFL players, inspired by 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, led a peaceful protest against police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem. A technique which Kaepernick did under advisory from a Military veteran’s group. For everyone calling for the protesters to be peaceful about it, it was happening and you still didn’t like it. Secondly, the protests in Minneapolis were peaceful until the police decided to begin tear gassing and pepper spraying them. Treatment that was absent from “peaceful” protests of armed white supremacists across the country who didn’t like being told they couldn’t get a hair cut and had to wear a cloth mask when they went to the grocery store. Again, two Americas. Armed white supremacists get treated better for protesting a public health initiative, meant to keep them safe. This is even legitimized from the highest twitter account in the land:

Also, worth noting in the president’s tweet, is the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The president of the United States is advocating for the shooting of Americans using the U.S. military. If the looting of stores makes you want to justify this stance, or makes you reconsider the “Black Lives Matter” movement, wait until I tell you the story of a liberal group that looted a ship in Boston Harbor and threw all the merchandise overboard. A couple years before that, the military was called to Boston to put down some rioters too. The President has no feelings about the constitution, or anyone other than himself for that matter.

Fundamental change has to happen in order for under-served and underprivileged communities to get the equality and justice they deserve as Americans. Find a cause and donate to support this movement. One thing I always tell my students when we talk about rights and freedoms is that they are something that had to be fought for. Nobody in Washington woke up one day and decided to free the slaves, end Jim Crow, give women the right to vote, or legalize gay marriage. All these things had to be fought for through protests, organization and speaking out. If change is going to happen for the better, so there never has to be another George Floyd, it may be messy, but it is going to be worth it. America can only work to it’s fullest potential, if the ideals of equality and justice are same for everyone. It’s time for one America.

Thank you for reading

John