As the Protests continue they are abutting against the gradual reopening of New York City effective tomorrow and I suspect given the slight uptick in employment numbers the protests will also gradually abate as while the issue is one of import the real reason behind the whole taking it to the streets was the frustration with being in lockdown for three months with little income, social and political segregation that when watching a black man cry I can't breathe once again resonated with those who felt the same way.  Watching daily the White Daddy preach endlessly about keeping people safe it was no loss in irony that at the same time people were not actually safe.   The sudden wokeness of the white population was and is largely due to the daily grind of living and securing that safety through economic wellness and pursuing largely segregated pursuits while espousing the language of equality and acceptance as a way of proving they were not racist.  But the reality is there is no way to prove one is not racist as unless you are fully living and integrated into the black community and accepted as a member there you are always perceived as racist.  I learned that teaching in the public schools as just my being white, having largely faces of Color in front of me the children had little way to know if I was hard on them because they were black or I was just a bitch.  The concept of race card is something I certainly am familiar with; however, unless I showed kids pictures of me with an ankle bracelet on, being subject to humiliation and degradation in the criminal courts for a crime I did not commit, or a photo of me sucking black dick I was not sure what I could do to prove I was not.  Oh give them a free pass to act insane in a classroom, to not write and read at a standard that would be expected of them to integrate and assimilate in white world and move up the economic ladder to at least get some higher education and in turn higher paying jobs, no, then I would have to accept being called racist and I was fine with that.  It is why I have little to say to the same white or brown faces that are taking to the streets who have never had anything ever happen to them ever and this is just to belong for a moment in time but will have no ownership or engagement beyond that.   Yes put that on your resume and tell us every time you need to pull out your own type of race card.

Right now the PTSD I have fought is manageable, as funny how the Covid lockdown for what began to me as forced house arrest (again of which I am personally familiar) is something I now embrace.  And as the city across the river opens I am excited to move outward at my own discretion and walk in the same streets that up until a week ago were empty.  I suspect they still will be but oddly safer as until the protests there were already an underclass of petty thieves and others using that as an opportunity, the same cohort doing so now in the shadow of protests.  Sadly they are almost all faces of color and that will be the next issue as they try to resolve and integrate back into their community. Ask these shopkeepers in the Bronx about that.   The same with the Korean/Asian population back in Los Angeles during Rodney King. That divide will not heal and more calls by them when a face of color comes into their shop and does "something" and that is what propelled the 911 call  in Ferguson, in Staten Island and in Minnesota.  All of those shopkeepers in those scenarios were not white.

I am a Libra and from this I try to find balance and clearly the wake up call to the history of systemic police violence has finally been embraced in a larger scale. When the NFL suddenly embraces the take a knee we have come a long way baby. And as we watch polls across the country there are true signs that this is now an issue of import so as we move forward in an election year there is still time to hold candidates accountable, to move forward to finding intiatives that can be added to the agenda when the Congress emerges from their homes to act upon legislation and make laws.

Well that brings me to this shocking truth - there is no anti lynching laws in federal books.  Truly that was a WTF moment having been through the 60s and just assumed that it had been handled and addressed. Well wrong again.   The best part of this that once again Kentucky home of the chief enabler of Trump, closet racist Mitch McConnell and his equally disruptive moron co Senator, Rand Paul.  No wonder they have such magnificent horse races there as you need anything to get the hell out of Kentucky.  Seriously people in Kentucky why?   I loved it there and its time you move into the 21st Century as I know you can, again I have been there and know you know better.

Emotions Run High as Anti-Lynching Bill Stalls in Senate
By The Associated Press
June 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — A Senate impasse over a widely backed bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime boiled over on Thursday in an emotional debate cast against a backdrop of widespread protests over police treatment of African Americans. 

Raw feelings were evident as Sen. Rand Paul — who is single-handedly holding up the bill despite letting it pass last year — sought changes to the legislation as a condition of allowing it to pass. 

But the Senate's two black Democrats, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, protested, saying the measure should pass as is. The debate occurred as a memorial service was taking place for George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes, sparking the protests that have convulsed the nation. 

The legislative effort to make lynching a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison comes 65 years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, and follows dozens of failed attempts to pass anti-lynching legislation. 

The Senate unanimously passed virtually identical legislation last year. The House then passed it by a sweeping 410-4 vote in February but renamed the legislation for Till — the sole change that returned the measure to the Senate. 

“Black lives have not been taken seriously as being fully human and deserving of dignity, and it should not require a maiming or torture in order for us to recognize a lynching when we see it,” said Harris. 

Paul, who has a history of rankling colleagues by slowing down bills, said the legislation was drafted too broadly and could define minor assaults as lynching. He also noted that murdering someone because of their race is already a hate crime. He said the Senate should make other reforms, such as easing “qualified immunity” rules that shield police officers from being sued. 

“Rather than consider a good-intentioned but symbolic bill, the Senate could immediately consider addressing qualified immunity and ending police militarization,” Paul said. He sought to offer an amendment to weaken the measure, and Booker blocked it. 

The conflict had been kept relatively quiet as Booker and Paul sought an agreement, but media reports recently pegged Paul as the reason the measure is stalled. 

“Tell me another time when 500-plus Congress people, Democrats, Republicans, House members and senators come together in a chorus of conviction and say, ‘Now is the time in America that we condemn the dark history of our past and actually pass anti-lynching legislation,’” Booker said.

The next stage is employment and again that faces of color are the most affected by this and are the lowest on the pay scale and often the last hired/first fired this now is the tine to address the same companies that sent massive emails, made PSA announcements and declared their support to Black Lives Matter to actually do so. Let's talk about organizing Unions and collective bargaining to restore the equity of pay, of benefits, to build seniority and training to enable all workers to have better job security is the next most essential issue that needs to be moved forward.  I watched in Tennessee not once but three times attempts by Unions to organize auto workers to unionize at the German auto makers located in Chattanooga and funny it was all faces of color that voted no.  Again the fear put into you by the powers that be - the then current but now former Senator Bob Corker - to stop said organizing led to its failures. Again and again the right to work states that have hideous labor policies are all located in the South, with low wages and low protections for workers (think Texas and the oil and gas industry) have contributed to higher health problems and other significant social ones (Boeing's lack of engagement and planes crashing) are largely due to the failure by workers to have the ability to bring to management's attention problems.   So this thing about VOTING matters and electing individuals who will work to eliminate such bullshit and fund better health care, better education that all contributed to some of the problems that are about Covid, you know the same issue that hurt faces of color more than any other demographic group.  But sure black lives matter in only one scenario? Really?

Then the letter writing, the demanding meetings, attending local council hearings, even virtually with an agenda, going to every single hearing on building permits (believe it or not that is critical), school board meetings and getting together to go to Congress and visit such charming folks as Rand Paul and others who seem to have problems hearing from those who matter and the issues that matter. Seriously against Anti Lynching are you fucking kidding me?

So carry on. I will be walking in the park and yes there are Rangers there, Police there and I have seen nothing enforced including banning chairs, having time constraints or enforcing masks.  And yes  I see faces of color but then again I choose to not see many things much like I choose to. In other words I have this personal responsibility that I now advocate and encourage which means treat yourself, your body, your mind how you want to be treated and in turn model that.  You may not succeed but when it comes down to it at least I know who I am and what I can do to make a difference if I choose to.  So call me any name you want but I can do nothing from a hospital bed and as my Mother used to say, "Sticks and Stones can break your bones but names can never hurt you."  So don't be a victim be victorious and figure out how the white male power brokers do it and then work around it but do it so they don't see it coming and it do it their way.