I despise the words ‘riot’ and “thug” carelessly thrown into the conversation… They do not understand… They scream their condemnations.
The term “The Final Straw” has never been more literal … and that straw is on fire…
We watch it on the TV… We question who we are… We wonder if the flames will spread… to our own cities so very far…
I am not going to pretend I am someone I am not …and with a heavy heart I look around me…trying to see anything that makes me feel right as I type this from my privileged neighborhood… in my middle class home… on my macbook air… 2 kids… 2 pets… the news on the big screen…
From this view point I watch as images being filmed in the firelight…show people being ridiculed for stealing their most basic needs.
Fire is vibrant in the dark…
I study the faces of those gathered… Peaceful. Stoic. Calm.
They are not vigilantes… simply vigilant to the cause
They didn’t start the fires… but they feel a deep burning within them….
They do not condone… but they do understand… as they hold their ground on the street
They do not see a riot… but an uprising… and this is the language of The Unheard, The Ignored. The Downtrodden.
and oh I know there are a million different point of views… thousands of opinions… and everyone thinks they are right.
and I apologize if I have offended you or any of them…with these very broken thoughts
But I have to hope that one day the image of the street ablaze will be remembered as the start of how we changed… And that the word ‘thug’ will die out with the flames
and my heart goes out to those Mothers that are praying for their children that are not home tonight…. while mine are tucked into bed safe and …. White.
This post was so painful to write as I follow the current events …
I have been paralyzed in my writing for weeks as I am unable to even process thoughts and feelings with all that is going on with our world… I am grateful for the prompt from the Light and Shade challenge for letting me shed a little of the weight…. and I cling to the belief that there is still more good than evil… even if we forget to report on it
The Light and Shade Challenge
