if we value life, we cannot easily accept that killing is inevitable or acceptable.

we must not allow all the noise to cloud our hearts. we know in our hearts that what is happening in this country – the continuous killing of Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement – is a complete breakdown and failure of our justice/policing system and the embodiment of structural racist bias.

a sworn police officer, a professional of 26 years, was unable to know the difference in location, in weight, in grip, in shape of their handgun and their taser? they are wrong for the job.

should expired tags and a warrant on a misdemeanor charge be a death sentence? a 20 year old life is gone and a toddler no longer has their father…again.

too many similar stories.

many years ago, i stepped out of a Rite-Aid and walked to my car. when i arose from looking at my receipts, i saw that i was surrounded by several police, their guns were not drawn, but their hands were on them. i was asked to slowly produce my license. after looking at my license, i was told i matched the description of a suspect in the area. i was cleared to go. i didn’t go. i sat in my car with my heart pounding and my stomach knotted. would i have made it out of that situation alive if i were Black or had dark skin? i hold that memory in my bones, knowing that this is just a taste of the fear my BIPOC friends live with.

i have nephews and nieces who are Black or have dark skin. a couple of them have autism and one is developmentally disabled. i cannot say with any confidence that i feel they are safe from being killed by police. what are we supposed to tell them? how do we prepare them for how they may be approached by police? how do we protect them from being killed by police? why is the burden on them to not be killed, rather than on police to not kill?

this is where we are at. this is where we have been.

i’m tired of spilled blood. i’m tired of aggression and violence as first choice. i’m tired of deadly force as default.

this paradigm needs to shift hard and shift now.

~j

#BlackLivesMatter #DaunteWright #PoliceReformNow #SitDownRiseUp #EngagedBuddhism #enso #JMWart #JinpaLhaga