I Wonder

I wonder what it would’ve been like if it was a black cop who killed a white man.
And what would happen if charges weren’t flexed based on the presentation of the offender.
I wonder what would change if we healed from the chronic illness of them instead of us.
Or if the dynamics of hierarchical divisiveness embedded in this nation’s story was widely acknowledged and led to repair.
I wonder what this place would look like if law enforcers were more like people protectors,
And their training was embedded with deconditioning themselves of conscious and unconscious biases.
And I wonder what would change if instead of defensiveness, one of the first responses of leaders was countrywide grief vigils.

Othering is so deep in the human psyche.
Adding power and denial makes it dangerous.

United we stand, divided we fall.
Some are standing, some are still sitting, padded by comfortable privilege.
This society is composed of, made by, all of us.
We’re falling.
We’re falling.

George Floyd, may you rest. May your death bring justice.

Art Credit: JR Street Art. Paris, France.