BTL Blogging Challenge: Book Club Friday

The writing prompt for today is to write about any book we are reading. But I have to be honest. My heart is not on books I'm reading right now. My heart is bleeding for the discord and turmoil in our country.

The unrest and violence is deeper than white suburbia can possibly fathom. We think to ourselves and say to our neighbors, "but look how much things have changed since the 60's...." Yes, there have been been some incredibly good changes. But if you take a look at the "war on drugs" and what that has done to the black community, not all change has been good. Today I am thinking on the book I read last summer: On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City by Alice Goffman.

I see things in the media by police, about police, for police advertising and selling that there ARE good policemen and women out there. This is SO TRUE. But as a whole, they've been charged with "containing the problem" and especially in the cities of our nation. Extreme force is expected and accepted. If we think that cops killing people (in particular people of color) is something new, we are sadly mistaken. Please don't think for a moment that I am saying that I think it's okay to retaliate, absolutely not. I am trying to convey that it is a bigger problem. It starts in government. And "We the People" need to stop turning a blind eye to our bothers and sisters around us. These two incidences in the last few days happen to have been caught on video and shared with a world that turns it's back on the ghetto and the plight of our poor and impoverished.... which is statistically proven to be blacks and hispanics.

I am sad today. I am a little scared of what is to come. And I pray that positive change comes out of these tragedies. ALL OF THEM. I am heartbroken over the deaths in Dallas. I hurt. I believe what MLK said sums it up best: