THE FLOYD MURDER VERDICT

This must not be the exception that proves the rule. Rather, let it be a moment of realization for our country — that we might begin to understand what it means to be black in America. Our fellow countrymen of African descent have waited for so long to claim the rights promised to all citizens in our constitution. Those who would continue to deny them full citizenship, and to disguise that shameful racism as election security, as law and order, as patriotism — they are on the wrong side of history. Let us see what they do for what it is: a continuation of the national disgrace of institutional racism. In too many places in our country, policing means enforcing that evil, containing and walling-off the rage and desperation that must inevitably come from such gross inequality.

Let us wake up and feel real compassion for our fellow citizens. This is our national mission and our labor of love.

~James Taylor
April 21, 2021