We Didn’t Start the Fire

The title of course is the name of the 1989 hit song by Billy Joel but it is how I feel about all the that has happened recently that has brought us here.

Story By A. Govea

The current face of all the protests across our country is George Floyd but could have easily maybe should have been Breonna Taylor or countless others.  This should not be a surprise to anyone.

 When will enough be enough, when can we find a way to police the police? This country has always, well at least it used to be the moral conscience of the world. We were always among the first to speak up against any Human Rights Violations, Pero sadly that has all changed. Or maybe we were always just fooling ourselves as one of the many that spoke up this week said “Racism has always been baked into this country.

  When I heard that statement it really caught my attention, of course I have never been blind to racism having personally experienced myself.  Pero, I had never heard it described that way, institutional racism yes. In fact, I have used the term on several occasions when addressing community issues in my role as a LULAC president. It should not be a surprise to anyone that a large part of the minority population has been at a disadvantage in all life domain areas. I believe that institutional racism was just a by- product of the way it was. After all the saying “If you’re’ White your right” was based on fact. And of course, all this wrong, Pero if you bake into it to the fibric of this country that is taking to the next level. So, it is no wonder that many people are still going around “With White Privilege Thinking” And that thinking comes with a “Get out jail free card”, if you go at all. 

  So just like a percentage of people that walk around with guns legal or not, sooner or later you are going to use it.  Add a badge to your arsenal and you practically have carte-blanche to do what you want to who you want. Well of course as long as they are non-Whites. Just ask the person occupying our house on Pennsylvania Avenue he has rightly said “I can shoot someone in Manhattan and people will start support/vote for me”(Paraphrasing) He (POTUS) has contributed to what happened to Mr. Floyd and what is happening now in the aftermath. Especially when says things like as soon as the looting starts the shooting starts and my MAGA supporters will be coming out and they Love Blacks. That is not only a Jim Crow Dog Whistle it is nod to the KLAN (SICK). While Trump is part of the problem the hope is that in November, we will send him and his MAGA group back to where they belong (You fill in the blank) 

  Now as for the officer that committed this murder and the other officers that let it happen, they are a disgrace to the badge. And must be charged with a crime also, but all of us must share fault.  Why because we have made all officers heroes, some almost God-Like, they are neither. Now do some them take heroic actions Yes but not all of them are heroes. They are just people simply doing their jobs, now is there more risk in their jobs then in others again yes. Pero just like when you take a job that requires any kind of risk of injury or life you knew what you were signing up for. I am sorry if that sounds callus, but I do not care, because I am tired of witnessing people that we are supposed to trust violate that trust by committing murder on the people they are hired to protect. Yes, Black Lives Matter!  And just because I say that does not mean all lives do not matter but now is the time that we all should unite under one banner and that is Black Lives Matter. 

   When you try to argue about this by bringing up Blue lives matter or others you are falling into the trap of divisive politics that stops progress. And if you are part of the people that think that to question law enforcement is unpatriotic as Malcolm X said “You have been bamboozled, You’ve’ been had” Maybe you learned this from your parents or maybe because of the police officer that visited your elementary school. Where you developed that thinking is not important now what is important is that you are willing to open your mind to the possibility that not all police officers are right. This is a time in our history when we can finally adopt laws that at the very least will minimize illegal actions by criminals dressed as police officers. 

  Here is where some may say “How about the people looting and setting fires in protest? My answer is the same as the people that live in the communities that have been affected, if you commit a crime and proven guilty then you will be prosecuted. Pero to be clear the people protesting in the name of justice for all are not the same people committing those crimes. That said let us not waste an opportunity to save our humanity by allowing racists and political opportunities rob us of this moment.  And yes, as my title reads, we didn’t start the fire but all of us have contributed either directly or through our indifference. This is an American problem and if you care about the future of our country and your final judgment day then the time to act is NOW.