Where We Go From Here

The individual who killed George Floyd was sentenced yesterday. 22 Years.
I don’t mention his name here because he’s not worth the virtual space.

I largely disconnected from the narrative around the trial. Actually, I never watched the video of George Floyd’s murder. I couldn’t do it, still can’t. I don’t need that emotional trauma to know that it was wrong. Social media of course, is debating whether the sentence was enough. Some people are glad. Some are pointing out that celebrating justice being done signals how often that justice in these cases is not carried out.

I fall into the second camp. I don’t feel any specific way about the verdict. Of course if he wasn’t convicted, I would be writing different words. Daily, I face a system that creates and upholds oppression, that really does not want to fundamentally change. I realize that I don’t realize how deep this rabbit hole goes. The more layers I peel back to the racism inherent in the U.S., the more I find. It is heartbreaking.

If I didn’t admit skepticism that this country ever will fundamentally change, I’d be doing you and myself a disservice. I just don’t know. The systems of oppression are so sophisticated in it’s design, on one hand, it is like Artificial Intelligence…it learns and adapts. On the other it is like a lizard…chop off the tail, another grows back in its place. Even more insidious, the oppressed themselves can act as oppressors and serve as “middle people” doing the work for oppressive systems and institutions.

The bottom is where we stop digging. I don’t believe that the U.S., is finished digging when it comes to racism. I think by and large racism has just changed forms. Slavery is illegal, but the criminal justice system and prisons have seemed to pick up some of the slack. I’m not even sure if people understand the crisis we are in, due to our apparent inability to create a society where rights, access, equity and participation are fully realized for all. People will still act surprised when <insert whatever horrible thing happens> and some will respond with, “that is not the America I know”. Really? There are people still living in a delusional reality coddled by their privileges. Meanwhile, people are dying. I believe that there is this idea that racism is a Black people problem, this is false. Racism is whole of society problem and specific cancer of whiteness. The burden is on those who create, uphold and benefit from it to end it, not those who are victims of it. I think we’ve got the fundamental premise of social justice work all wrong, but I’ll save that for another post.

Thinking of Trayvon…

The murder of Trayvon Martin still haunts me to this day. The fact that a grown male hunted down this boy and killed him because he felt he looked suspicious is unfathomable. This man had a gun. Trayvon did not. This man was much older, Trayvon was a teen. This man was told by the 911 operator to stop pursing Travyon, yet this man decided not to listen. Trayvon committed no crime and even if he did his killer was not asked to be judge and jury, but he did anyway. And still, thousands of people came to this killers defense (someone else I will not name) and sent money and support. They were glad a 17 year old boy was killed, who had done absolutely nothing. What they either could not or wouldn’t articulate was the belief that because he was young black male, it was only a matter of time before he did something bad. So, in their twisted racist minds Trayvon’s killer became their hero. And, this, is the America that I know.

The justice system too, decided this was OK. I watched a trial where the defense grilled and tore down Trayvon’s friend, Rachel Jeantel. They treated her as if she was the killer, as if she had committed some offense. Neither Trayvon nor Rachel were given any empathy as teenagers, but a grown man, who was a known aggressor and continued to be one after he was acquitted, was somehow painted as the victim. They justice system acquitted that man and made a pomp and circumstance of returning to him the gun he killed Travyon with.

Systems work, as they are designed.

I quit America that day.

Reflections on Sandy Hook…

Then of course there was Sandy Hook. This is where I understood that America could and would not even protect the lives of school children because lobbyists and special interests were more important.

Children. children…sigh…

Looking Forward

So, where do we go from here? George Floyd’s killer is in prison. Good.
But this country has not hit rock bottom, we are definitely still digging.

I write this because I care. I share this because I’m not sure all the time, that people really want a better world for everyone. Yet still, I know it is possible. My work is to promote equity-centered design, futures thinking and social innovation to disrupt and replace systems of injustice and inequity. This space, which I call “6 Impossible Things” because just as Lewis Carroll wrote, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. I believe that a just and equitable society need not be a far-fetched idea. This not impossible after all, we just need to be committed to the undoing of systems and practices that push us away from equity. And I’ll talk about all these “impossible things”, how we create a better more just and equitable society, right here. Pull up a chair and stay tuned.