Protests to stop systematic racism made the virus take a back seat for the last few weeks.
Generations of my family were emotionally triggered by the events in different ways. People old enough to have seen this kind of frustration happen before were paralyzed with heavy memories of injustice while the younger ones were outraged by the realization that the world isn’t as fair as they thought.
Everyone is being forced into hard discussions around racial issues that, if not dismantled, will result in another generation of pain.
Our towns were torn up however it felt as though the destructive aspect of the protests were not done by locals. The businesses that were impacted were places black and brown people shop versus the more posh places in the suburbs. Someone knowing the dynamics of the town would have known the best places to make more of a financial impact.
The peaceful massive protests led by the NAACP and other local organizations made the most impact and gained the most attention by decision makers. Most people seem to want to be on the right side of history.
The most difficult part of this has been explaining this to my children. Their questions are difficult – why wouldn’t the cops be found guilty if we saw what happened? How long will they keep the police in jail? How can we help make black lives matter?
My responses have been very straightforward because I’d rather them hear the truth from me than make up their own minds based on social media.
We’ve seen this happen in the past and the killers have been found not guilty. Systems didn’t change and everyone continued on with life as if nothing happened – except for black people who keep the feeling of “lesser than others” in their hearts. Hopefully this time we will see change. Hopefully this generation will get things right by demanding equality. I will help and support them anyway I can to promote progress towards a better global society that values diversity.
South Carolina is still completely open. People are walking around without masks and sitting in crowded restaurants while the number of virus cases still rise daily. North Carolina has taken the phased approach and just did their phase 2 last week; barber shops and restaurants have opened their doors. They still have capacity restrictions in place.
The schools are preparing their plans for the fall. Deadlines for deciding if they will have everyone remain at home or have an adjusted in class experience are due by July. Some local companies are allowing people to volunteer to go into the office a few days out of the week.
We have still been social distancing – wearing our masks and only going out for essentials. Until we have a reliable vaccine or the numbers of cases stop increasing, our trust is based on common sense versus decisions made solely to save the economy and not lives.
