Enough Already!

There are many people who are not clear about the grand jury and the lack of an indictment. There are many daily small injustices in the world. I see the evidence of those. We each have an anecdote about something tragic and awful that happened to someone who fits more comfortably into a demographic we favor. We can't trade in despair and tragedy. Each loss of a human life is a cause for sorrow. From the aborted fetus to the wrongfully accused and convicted death row inmate. Each injustice is a human scar we can not erase. We each carry this with us as human beings.

We are not each other's enemy and we must stop having this discussion as if we are. Mike Brown was someone's son; possibly someone's brother. Many of the people who are protesting simply think that "stealing cigars" may not have been cause for the events between Mike Brown and Darren Wilson. Both are unwitting participants in our national paralysis regarding race/ethnic relationships here. Neither wanted to be a catalyst for the protests/rioting/apologists/deniers that have arisen from this confrontation.

Darren Wilson is also someone's son, and neighbor. He has become the most recent poster child for the brutality that our community is experiencing. When I say our I mean the collective our - not the black community, or the Ferguson community, not even the urban community. The violence, poverty, disparities directly and indirectly affect all of us.

We can mourn for Mike Brown and his family and still hope that there is justice in the future. If we do not begin to address the issues that have percolated up from the depths of our unconsciousness we will continue to make the same mistakes in future interactions between the Mike Brown and the police in more of our communities.

Reach across the political divide. Talk to someone of another economic class. Have a coffee with another color-collar worker. We spend our time and energy trying to convince other people that our story is as valid as the other, while not hearing the sincerity and authenticity of that story. It is not a zero sum game.