White People, We Have a Problem

White people, we have a problem.

We routinely kill black people in the streets of our country. We kill black people for selling cigarettes. We kill black children for playing with toy guns. We kill black people for legally carrying licensed guns. We kill black people for selling compact discs. We kill black people for jogging. We kill black people for driving.

We kill black people.

And we don't like it when black people protest us killing them.

We don't like it when they protest peacefully, taking a knee during the national anthem. When that happens, we call them unpatriotic, and use that excuse to end their careers.

We don't like it when they protest violently, after they cannot get us to hear them when they protest peacefully. We declare that they are thugs, and the President of the United States threatens that "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

We don't like seeing cities on fire. We feel threatened when a police station is taken over. We wish black people would control themselves, and not do things like this.

When we are killing black people in the streets.

The problem, referenced above, means it is up to us to stop all of this. And we know damned well that we can stop it any time that we want to. Us. White people.

It is all up to us.

We can stop the violent responses to the murders of black people by stopping our murders of black people.

We can stop the peaceful protests by stopping our murders of black people.

We can put out the fires, end the looting, and lower the angry voices by stopping our murders of black people.

The truth is, we are the only people who can stop these awful things that result from our murders of black people. We cannot choose to kill sons, brothers, fathers, husbands, daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives, and choose to have no response to our killing.

We cannot let our police departments run wild, killing unarmed people, and legally armed people, and people who haven't done anything at all, and people who have not been charged or convicted for the slightest misdemeanors, without provoking a response.

And when that response comes, we don't get to choose what it is. And, I can promise you, if my child, or spouse, or parent were gunned down in the streets, the responses we've seen would be considered mild by comparison.

But that's not going to happen. Because I'm white. My children are white. My spouse is white. My parents are white. And American police don't murder white Americans like they murder black Americans.

That is precisely why we have a problem. That is why we have to stop this random, wanton, deadly wielding of deadly power.

We, white America, are the only people who can fix this problem.

The only question is, do we really want it stopped? Or do we enjoy the status quo? Are we committed to maintaining our privilege? Do we want black people to be murdered in our streets? Do we actually want our police to make it plain, on our behalf, and in our name, that if you get out of line, or even if you don't, we will kill you to show who's boss in this sick, racist society?

I'm afraid that we're about to find out.

We're about to find out.

Again.