BlackLivesMatter

Terrorism is terrifying. Literally. Not to feel safe in your own country, your own city, your own home.

 It is easy to think of terrorism as something that happens across the globe, like in Paris or Cameroon, or Mali. But yesterday the Upper Midwest had a taste of terror. At a peaceful BlackLivesMatter demonstration outside a police precinct in Minneapolis, MN, five people were shot. Crowds had gathered to protest the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark.  There were counter-protestors, white supremacists, every night. But last night some of the white supremacists fired into the BlackLivesMatter protestors and wounded five people.

As I reflect on the situation, I think, "This isn't how it is supposed to be."  People ought to be able to voice their point of view. They ought to be able to stand up for justice. They ought to be able to live without terror. As a child I had the impression that slavery was abolished with the Civil War, that racism was resolved in the 1960's. As an adult I know this is far from the truth. People of color walk uphill, with impediments that I can't even imagine. While we, as a nation, are so concerned about terrorists sneaking into the US alongside Syrian refugees, let us pay attention to our fellow US citizens that cause terror with their racist actions and attitudes. All lives matter, including the black ones.