This has been a very difficult week for
our country. We remain in the midst of an ongoing pandemic that, despite some
tentative resumption of life in some parts of the country, feels endless. Over
100,000 Americans have lost their lives in less than three months, and unemployment
is nearly as high as during The Great Depression of the 1930s.
And then last week we were shocked to
watch video of a white police officer in Minneapolis whose arrest of George
Floyd, a black man, went horribly awry. The officer kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s
neck for almost nine minutes while the suspect was handcuffed and lying face
down, saying “I can’t breathe.” All this occurred while three other officers
involved in the arrest either assisted the arresting officer or prevented
onlookers from intervening. By the time an ambulance arrived, Mr. Floyd was pronounced
dead at a nearby hospital. What had Mr. Floyd allegedly done? He had attempted
to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a market. While police said that he resisted
arrest (and it is not clear to me why it took four police officers to handle
this), he was clearly unarmed and no immediate threat to the arresting officers.
This incident has resulted in massive
demonstrations all over the country as well as in some major European cities,
some of whom who have had similar reports of overzealous policing of their own
in recent years. The fact that these enormous crowds of people have been so moved
to come out during a pandemic is a clear indication of just how heartbreaking
this incident, clearly not the first in recent years, truly is.
I have stayed away from discussions of
politics on this blog, but it would be reassuring if we had a President who
could at least pretend to be compassionate about all the suffering in
our country right now. The coming pandemic was clearly recognized late last
year and early this year by many health experts, and it is clear that many of
the deaths could have been avoided had our senior government officials taken appropriate
action. This has been done quite effectively in other countries, resulting in
far lower rates of death from the disease, and because it started in Asia, and
then spread to Europe before crossing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, we had a
chance to act in time to have kept better control here. But we did not.
Rather than doing everything that could
have been done to lessen the spread of COVID-19, our government is now trying
to use brute force to prevent even peaceful protests in support of the black
community during this painful and difficult time. Something seems to be
terribly awry here.
I have gotten through two fairly
serious bouts with cancer during the past eight years, but now I am truly worried
for the future. We can only pray that our leaders will have the wisdom to solve
these problems.
Take care and stay safe,
Love,
Rebecca
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