The deaths of George Floyd , Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor are the latest examples of how broken our basic structures of civility and governance are.

Let’s consider for a minute how all three of these individuals are being described as an “unarmed black man” and “unarmed black woman” by mainstream media. What are the basic assumptions that exist in our culture that black people killed by police (and white non-police) are emphasized by the media as “unarmed” in a way that implies that black people might be a threat if in fact they were armed? Why is that normalized? Stephon Clark. Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. Freddie Gray. Michael Brown. Sam DuBose. Charleena Lyles. Terence Crutcher. Countless others. Instead of saying “Protests erupted in multiple cities over the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of a police officer”, you could say “Protests erupted in multiple cities over the death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of a police officer. Floyd was unarmed.”

Do we really believe the structures of our police departments to be different than how the country at large views black people? Our media and our police reflect the power structures in this nation. I would like to share some thoughts that some of my black friends and colleagues have shared with me over the last day or so:

“If you question why there is so much power in the black community in our black churches, it’s because many of us do not think the majority of white people actually believe in the same God we believe in that governs our lives and actions. For black people, America is more than just racist. It’s a Godless place where fear and ignorance and power and money and FEELING COMFORTABLE are all more important than the lives of its brown and black citizens and the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It’s why Toni Morrison said it best when she said that being American means being white. We know that because everyone else has to hyphenate….”

“My people stare death in the face every time they step out that front door.”

“Current events have me insanely pissed but simultaneously tired. Honestly it is making me more motivated to have more influence so that my voice carries more weight about this stuff.”

One of my colleagues posted the song “Strange Fruit” by Billlie Holiday with the following comment: “Published by Abel Metropol in 1937 and made famous by Billie Holiday’s rendition in ‘39, this soulful gut wrenching poetry paints the picture of Black Lynching oppression that was the backdrop between postwar America. Where the public gave a blind eye and the government (police) often carried out corporal street punishment with little repercussions. For those non POC friends of mine who have been moved by the recent police brutality, Know that Abel, a caucasian Jewish American so distraught by the photograph of the public lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abrahm Smitt that his heart poured out what his eyes could not believe. Remember this was ‘39 and nothing new for its time. Persecution is nothing new; believing that we are at a time where things like this don’t happen is still relatively new.”

Oppression has been built into the structure of our country since the beginning: it was expressly written into the Constitution (the 3/5 persons clause and the Fugitive Slave Clause), it remains implicity written there today through the Electoral College and Senate system, it is written into our national anthem, written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, in verses that we choose to pretend aren’t there and do not sing:

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

The Star Spangled Banner is in some ways reflective of our country at large - the horrific parts are there, but we pretend they don’t exist while we sing about liberty and freedom. That verse, by the way, was aimed at slaves who joined the British in the war of 1812 in exchange for their freedom.

I can’t begin to understand what it is like to walk in the shoes of a black man. However, white people can acknowlege the fundamental structures of this country are broken, and commit to rebuilding them in a way that serves real justice. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” I can appreciate that the police officer involved in Floyd’s death was arrested today. But we should not have to wait for another black person to die to recognize our injustice and make changes.