If my job was to write (on Facebook or other media), here is what I would be writing about today… what is on my mind:
- The cease fire has been broken in Aleppo. Russian and Syrian bombing is continuing. Thousands of innocent civilians still stuck in hellish and brutal conditions. We are living through one genocide after another.
- A young, 18 I believe, Black man from Charlotte was killed yesterday by SWAT police. Timothy Davis. Police brutality against Black and Brown bodies is unquestionable and close to all of our homes.
- Asheville journalists are resistant to call the beating of a Black man left on the side of the road with a chord around his neck a hate crime, “because we just don’t know yet.”
- The DA will release his statement about the murder of Jai “Jerry” Williams by an Asheville Police officer and wether charges will be filed on Thursday. Will this “liberal, caring” city actually hold someone accountable for their actions that result in murder, allow the courts to do their job, or will the law enforcement system protect their own and continue to give the message to Black and Brown bodied people that they actually don’t matter here.
- Trump’s appointments, their experience in their respective areas, and what are they telling us about what might be coming down the line
- The process of discrediting the media that is happening by Trump and his people and how undermining the media is a way to destabilize checks on the government and is a significant play in creating a Fascist or Fascist like regime
- How important it is for us to be learning from history and looking at the accounts of today side-by-side with historical events
- How supposedly Trump’s admin requested various lists of names of Climate Change workers from the Department of Energy and Dept. of Energy denied releasing those names — are government-sanctioned witch hunts about to return?
- Personal reflections on what my practices are to be living in this time
- Reading the new article from Ta-Nehisi Coates, My President Was Black
- Obama’s statement to Trump that it is not wise to refuse the daily intelligence briefings and it is smart to listen to the expertise of others
Now I will try and work today.
I leave you with a video from the opening ceremonies at the NAIS People of Color Conference last week when 15 year-old Royce Mann and other students from Atlanta reminded us why we were there, why we are here alive at this moment on this planet. “Let’s Rise Up.”
