Month: June 2020

So trying to wrap my head around all of the protests, looting and destruction, my wife and I decided to take Doc Rivers’ advice and ask the hard questions. The question became, who do you talk to without being judged a racist or angering that person. The good Lord presented us with the perfect person.

There is a gentleman, Calvin, who is a couple layers up the chain for the company we work for and a no nonsense kind of guy. Follow the rules and do your job. He loves to teach you if you ask the questions of something you do not know and he grew up in Alabama. Perfect choice in my estimation. After the usual, how is business, how are you doing, he says, “What do you make of all of what is going on with the death of George Floyd.”

Obviously his death was murder and we are trying to understand all of the fallout following his murder. Calvin, like us, no fan of the death, destruction and violence. We brought up the systemic racism. His response were things we were never taught in school. Our learning stopped at the Emancipation Proclamation. Laws were still written by the government to put restrictions on black people. Police brutality came up, Calvin’s response, ” The color of my skin is considered a weapon.” It is a crap shoot if you get pulled over, you don’t know what you are going to get. Calvin to us, black people are more aggressive than white people. I could have the same conversation with the two of you and a black person and someone watching it could get two different views of the conversation. My wife to Calvin, a lot of black people seem to have no respect for themselves or where they live. They wear their pants around their ass and have no problem throwing stuff out on the street. Calvin’s response. If you have had rules and laws for over a hundred years put in place to keep you down, how would you respond?

Where do we go, how can we make it better? If systemic racism stems from the government and it’s agency’s and most black people vote Democrat…. Calvin said you get what you vote for. He suggested businesses build in low income areas. “I don’t care if they build a wall around it in the beginning.” Give people in urban areas a place to work that they can walk to or take the bus. Having jobs would help remove the pawn shops and liquor stores on every corner. Eventually people could get off of welfare. The community would eventually raise itself up.

Here is my take. We found answers from Calvin, he gave us insights we never had learned. Just based on the definition of systemic racism, Congress again is the issue. Congress has been the bane of my blogs existence. Pelosi, 33 years, McConnell 30 years, Schumer over 30 years, here is your definition of systemic racism. They are part of the Legislative Branch of the government, they make the laws. This whole awful situation should lay at the feet of Congress past and present. This primary season here in Ohio, my wife and I did not put our vote for anyone who was the incumbent. Jaylen Brown of the Utah Jazz said it best. “We need to do our homework on who we vote into office.” This is screaming term limits to Congress from my perspective!!!

You would literally have to be living under a rock to not know George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. I believe America as a whole was mad as hell! There were calls for justice followed by rioting then looting across the major cities in America.

So the next thing you do is watch the news and one of the first talking points is systemic oppression. So let’s get a definition. Oppression that occurs at the institutional level, such as in government policy-making, within educational institutions and the throughout the health care system. While one-on-one experiences of discrimination might stand out more in our minds, systemic oppression is even farther-reaching because it is coded right into the institutions we depend on to survive.

For days while cities burned and people died all I kept hearing was we need to stop racism. Police brutality needs to stop. I am mad and angry. People need to listen. Systemic racism needs to stop. The news turns to the celebrity view. Doc Rivers, ” we need to ask the hard questions.” White coaches and players from the NFL, this needs to stop and I support the protests. Dale Earnhardt Jr., ” I learned some things and this needs to stop.” LeBron James, “We are being hunted everyday!” Drew Brees was asked about the standing for the flag. He hoped people would stand to respect the flag. The responses, Malcolm Jenkins, “F**k you Drew!” Marquis Colston, “You don’t get it bro!” In the case of Malcolm Jenkins his first response was taken down and replaced.

Eventually the officer that was kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck was arrested. As the looting and rioting continued the America that was united under the unnecessary death of George Floyd turned to horror at the destruction and not understanding, WHY! Congress members were at home over fears of the Corona Virus. The only voice from the government, from my perspective was President Trump.

Here is my take. As soon as all of this craziness started all I kept hearing was talking points. Everyday the same talking points regurgitated by anchors and celebrities alike, no answers, no solutions, talking points!! Most of us had not heard of systemic racism until this started. The one and only person I came across that had any sort of help to the issues we face was Stephen A. Smith. Maybe we should have a national police czar to oversee the police departments. Nobody else shared experiences to help the rest of us understand. My wife and I work in part of what is considered not a nice area of Cincinnati. We don’t see the racism. We are not naive enough to say it does not happen, there are assholes everywhere! We get along with everyone, they are happy to see us and we are happy to see them.