There aren’t words in the English language to express everything swirling and whirling inside me. First we had ‘shelter in place’ and then we watched George Floyd die. Both of these events resonates with the world because we are all in danger of authority over-stepping its bounds on a personal level: each individual human being level.. And, a deadly virus does not discriminate.

I am white. My husband, as most of you know is black (he doesn’t like ‘African-American’ because he wasn’t born in Africa and will probably never see Africa). I have worried about him on some of the jobs he has worked for us. I was worried someone would jump him, or gang him, or he would have to defend himself and be the one taken to jail. There are concerts we haven’t gone to, certain places in cities, and made sure we were secure in a motel room because someone might be upset by seeing us together. In restaraunts some servers have refused to serve us.

Racism is very real, very dangerous, and it hasn’t gone away, as some claim. It has always been there, simmering just beneath the surface.

So, I am standing. Firmly beside my husband. ALL lives matter.

Sadly, some are calling for the dismantling of the police departments: We need a police deparment because the police aren’t supposed to be for the law abiders, but for those who are not. There are many good police men and women. The bad ones need to be weeded out. Police officers are not divine, they are human beings. Not all human beings are good either.

With this said, I firmly believe the good humans far out number the bad humans on this planet.