A Country in Chaos

I've been watching some pretty disturbing news/posts/etc for the past few days and I've also been seeing some really encouraging news. The one true power that we, the people, possess is to highlight injustice and push for consequences for abhorrent action. Officers don’t commit these crimes just because they're racist. They commit these crimes because they know they'll get away with it due to a lack of accountability in a broken system that fosters rather than discourages workplace racism.

And before people jump on this post one way or another, most cops aren't bad. Just like most people aren't bad.

Police are doing a hard job with some pretty scary consequences if they get it wrong. But making the wrong decision that costs your own life is NO BETTER than making the wrong decision that costs someone else their life. We need to dismantle the brotherhood that encourages and turns a blind eye to systemic racism and to do that we need our police brothers and sisters to stand up and say "no more."

Promoting change in a place that is unattainable for us requires allies in that place, be it the schools, the government, or the police force. Right now people are going to protest, and they should. People are going to riot, and and who am I to say no to that? Is it horrible, frightening, and destructive? Yes. But are the rioters and the protesters entitled to their anger? Also yes. It's not for me to tell them they can't be angry, or can't react, or even HOW to react.

Consider this: If a parent systematically abuses a child for years, physically, mentally, emotionally, and that child finally snaps, society understands what happened to them and understands why they lashed out, why they resorted to violence. You have a person in power abusing people because they can, they are allowed to get away with it simply because of their position of power. That has to change. We have to hold our government accountable, our fellow citizens accountable, and ourselves.

Accountability starts in our home first, then spreads to the neighbors, community, and government. We are ALL responsible whether we think we're racist or not. We vote people in and that has power. And the people we vote into office, be it president, governor, or even police chief, THOSE are the people making the rules, the laws, and setting the tone for their jurisdiction/community/country.

What can we do?