CROSSROADS: HIT THE BREAKS, LOOK BOTH WAYS
I guess there is nothing extraordinary about saying this, and I don't want to be overly dramatic about it, but I believe humanity has entered a new season (I know - duh..). Every aspect of our lives is having to be examined, redefined to some degree, due to the need to restrain the spread of the pandemic, and both our present and our future are uncertain.
So we are all back to the basics: feeding our families, raising our children, protecting one another from infection, and continuing life as best we can. Survival. Basically doing what is in front of us, live in the present, be creative and industrious, learn to value time spent with loved ones, and hope for a cure.
Many people want to go back to the way things were. We hear about continuity, but others also talk about re-imagining, about revolution. In a way, many feel we have to let go of what was, and hold on to what keeps us safe and sane, but do we know what these terms mean for us, and for Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color?
OLD TRADITIONS ARE NEW AGAIN
Speaking of Indigenous peoples, I had a thought: it seems that for our post-colonial countries to move forward and move away from self-destruction, the path ahead needs to include what Indigenous cultures, African Americans, have been pointing at for centuries. We need to bring the changes they have asked for, walked for, protested for, died for. And due to the present protests around Black Lives Matter, we need to be starting with reforms of our justice systems, which unjustly targets Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). This would then trickle down to law enforcement in their dealings with these communities.
This could then open the way to make the management of the environment more efficient, a constant request by Indigenous people around the world. It could end the ludicrous criminalization of those protesting risky projects of pipelines across Native lands, rivers and shores.
Why do these cultures seem to be discriminated against still today, through the court system? As if we haven't grown beyond racism and apartheid. Because to the degree there is systemic discrimination and racial profiling in our country's justice system, to that degree an apartheid regime is still in operation within our borders. And who benefits from this? We need to find out. It is a stain on our countries as a whole and makes our international advocacy for human rights hypocritical.
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