Every day I wake up, scan the news, Twitter and Facebook and every day there are new stories of:
- black men being shot and killed by uniformed police officers;
- white men being convicted of rape and getting off with light sentences or probation, not having to register as sex offenders from white judges so *their* lives aren’t ruined;
- dogs being set on peaceful protestors of color (defending what is legally their own land).
Every day I see the rights and lives and safety of women and people of color disregarded and crushed by white men in uniforms and white men of influence and white men with academic *futures*
Our police system is broken. Our justice system is broken. Our prison system is broken. Our education system is broken.
White non-Hispanics make up only 63% of this country, down from 80% in 1980. Folks of color are on their way to becoming the majority. There are already more women than men here. Standing together we can fix what is broken, alone we become targets in ways we have not seen for decades.
I don’t know how this gets fixed, but I believe it can be.
And I know that answer isn’t silence.
Or protest votes.
Or looking the other way.
It is in action, not reaction.
It is standing up for what you believe in.
Standing for what is right for the world, not just for myself.
Standing for what is right, not just what is easier.
And standing up for the rights and lives of total strangers.
You must stand for something! It does not have to be grand, but it must be a positive that brings light to someone else’s darkness. – Anthony Carmona, President of Trinidad and Tobago
This is a very powerful post. Standing up for the rights of others takes courage and consistency. There are some doing it daily and it warms my heart to see it.