Black And Blue

A fragile existence

Black In America

Photos/Illustrations by Betsy Kiel

Floyd, Taylor, Martin, King, and Arbery. These are just a few names in the tragic landscape of police brutality and vigilante justice.

After experiencing an episode of unconscious racial bias in the workplace, a colleague remarked so to voice. “Racism never sleeps.”

As an African American male, my interactions with law enforcement have been fraught with stress and a hint of menace. One night while walking home from work, I came within a hair-trigger of being yet another statistic of police over-reaction —Castile, Gray, and McDonald.

Guns were drawn, as I was mistakenly identified as being one of the usual suspects —Garner, Brown, Scott, and Rice.

I had a visceral reaction to the horrific murder of George Floyd. It was the ultimate grotesque perversion of justice and symbolized the painful systematic institutionalized racism endured by African Americans for over 400 years. In addition, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic deadly disproportionate impact on people of color allied to high unemployment and you had the perfect explosive ingredients for the social upheaval that followed.

The chickens of our nations ‘original sin,’ slavery, are finally coming home to roost. Decades of inequality in the realms of justice, health, education, and economic opportunity have left many bereft of hope and close to the edge.

We are now at a historic inflection point as a multicultural American coalition demands an end to racial injustice. This clarion call for change is now a global phenomenon, it would seem that change is at hand.

Central to this idea of seismic change is the issue of Police reform, which has to happen. Accountability and transparency need to be central tenets of any progressive moves to change the negative image many people have of law enforcement. Police union's intransigence ferocious defense of its members has meant that the successful prosecution of rogue cops is extremely rare, therefore, communities of color literally have a license to kill.

Police cannot be allowed to police themselves, and, for the public to have faith in the system, there must be independent oversight.

---

---

We need a paradigm in our approach to law enforcement in which police are seen less like an occupying army, but a more highly integrated community-based partner.

Last, bloated police budgets have added to the increased militarism of police departments nationwide. This trend was on full display as police dispatched peaceful protesters with brutal efficiency past Floyd’s death. With crumbling infrastructure, homelessness, chronic underinvestment in human capital, and a myriad of other social ills, perhaps it is time to change priorities and reallocate tax dollars.

The warrior psyche of law enforcement needs to evolve. It leads to the notion we are less than human and need to be policed over aggressively. Deadly chokeholds and the lack of transparency over officers' disciplinary records are positive metrics of change that need to be instituted.

The winds of change, are blowing as evidenced by the multicultural hordes who marched for George Floyd. Our shared humanity unites us, and we look forward to the day when black lives are truly valued, and the specter of police violence exiled to the distant past.

The Edge Of Darkness

We have seen mass carnage in California, Texas, and Ohio roared xenophobic hatred

By Jose` Manuel Guzman

One of the proudest days of my life was the day I became an American citizen. I pledged allegiance to my newly adopted homeland, and, with a multitude of others, I basked in the shared reflective glory of that beautiful day. In my mind's eye, that memory would remain forever untarnished.

Enter Donald J. Trump.

We have a President who is entirely too comfortable trotting out racist tropes while pandering to a white nationalist agenda. People of color have become the designated villains. Immigrants, legal or not, is now the ‘Other,” not American. Baltimore and other racially diverse cities have derisively labeled, “infested.”

Four congressional women of color have been the target of Trump's race-baiting venom. The reference of America; Love it or leave it and “Send her back,” about one of the congresswomen who were not US-born. Minories and refugees dehumanized as evidenced by their often brutally harsh treatment at the southern border.

Immigrants are the lifeblood of America, as we are stronger because of diversity. The day I became a US citizen, I was keenly aware of the collective joy in the room, and, the prospect of new opportunities.

Trump has betrayed the idealism that is truly exceptional. The racist vitriol being injected in American body politics has real consequences. Minorities and people of color are uneasy as hate crimes increase. Kids and adult is being told, “to go back to your country.”

In her memoir, ”Becoming” former First Lady Michelle Obama is unforgiving in the fact that TRUMPS WILD “Birther” rhetoric placed the lives of her family in mortal danger. The unvarnished bigotry of Trump is a clarion call to those who would commit acts of violence in his name.

Racism and fear cynically being exploited for political gain. However, in this scenario, the soul of the nation becomes collateral damage. Unbridled hate will unravel the unique American mosaic, for most of us, 2020 can’t come soon enough. Shame on the political toadies, and societal leaders, who complicit in Trump's racism by nature of their deafening silence. America will survive this current maelstrom with renewed hope for all its people.

In the past weeks, we have seen mass carnage in California, Texas, and Ohio roared xenophobic hatred. Trump has to know his words have consequences, but in a strange twist of fate, he might very well unite the country he sought to rip apart.