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The BLM Protests were the Canary in the American Coal Mine: Nothing Will Change
Last night, a man stuck a gun through the open window of my car, pointed it at my face, and pulled the trigger. Then I woke up. I sat up in bed, my adrenaline pumping. My girlfriend stirred next to me and detected my distress. I knew why the man in my dream had attacked me: I was a white man with a black woman.
I don’t know why I would dream something like that. Other than noticing sidelong glances and some staring, we’ve never been confronted about our relationship. Our families have been nothing but supportive; it is society that worries me.
When the death of George Floyd sparked mass protests for racial justice, there were marches and demonstrations in my home of Tallahassee as well. Amidst the protests and crowds of heavily armed riot police, a man drove his car through a crowd of marchers. The rage was palpable, but no charges were ever filed. Instead, police arrested protest leaders, and America’s worst governor pushed for new legislation to criminalize protests by legislating that any protest of 3 or more people could be deemed a riot.
In response to the protests, city leaders moved swiftly to do nothing at all. Despite demands by local leaders to fire the chief of police, a man whose biggest claim to fame was shooting a black man earlier in his career…
