“This week I was outraged, saddened, and then outraged again by the killing of George Floyd, who died begging for his life as a police officer knelt on his neck. Mr. Floyd joins the far too long list of black Americans who have been killed because they were black. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others were different but the root cause was the same – racism.
Grief-stricken protesters have taken to the streets around the country chanting “Black Lives Matter.” We shouldn’t need to be reminded of that, but the truth is that the idea that black lives are not as valuable as white lives is tragically ingrained in our culture. We needn’t look further than recent reopening protests to see that. Armed white men stood outside government buildings and went home alive after their protests, meanwhile, jogger Ahmaud Arbery never made it home from his run.
I’m not seeing an actionable proposal and or anything to do specifically with Somerville. At least the mayor’s political base can nod along, so I suppose he did achieve something.
I’m still upset about the BLM banner on City Hall. Independent of personal support for the “movement”, that’s a government building, not an ideology billboard.
Mighty white of you. Thankfully, neither you nor your hero in the WH, Anus Tangerinus, speak for Somerville. But our mayor does. Thankfully.