A blinking cursor.
That's what I've been staring at for a while now. I don't know what to write or if I should write anything. Like many people, I have been saddened and angered by what has occurred in Ferguson, Missouri this past week. I hate that a teenager is dead. I hate that the people of a community feel like second class citizens in their own country. I hate that the militarization of local police turned a Midwestern suburb into something like a war zone. I hate so many things that have happened this past week.
A blinking cursor also represents what we have before us.
There is a chapter in this saga that still has to be written. We have to write it and we have to write something good, because the issue of prejudice and racial inequality has not gone quietly into the night. These issues are still grave problems. What you, me, and this country writes next has a significant impact on our future together.
What do we write? I don't know. Do we need to love one another? Absolutely, but that abstraction needs to be played out in ways that change a system that is very much in need of dramatic repair. I think we need to do a great deal of listening. I think we need to pray. And then we must act with conviction.
Here are a few links to some good articles that I've read the past few days.
The Passion of White America by Richard Beck
John Perkins: The Sin of Racism Made Ferguson Escalate So Quickly by Amy Julia Becker
The Militarization of the Police by Jamelle Bouie
When Parenting Feels Like a Fool's Errand by Stacia L. Brown
The Frontlines of Ferguson by Rembert Browne (being an on-the-ground account, this article contains a fair amount of profanity)
Pay Attention to #Ferguson: Some Resources by Rachel Held Evans