Policy and change
Not thoughts and prayers...
While the nation reeled with the news that a white supremacist had shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others in a Buffalo supermarket, the television newsreaders interrupted themselves to report on another mass shooting, this one at a California church. And then there was the shooting in Milwaukee.
As I write this on Monday, there have been 202 mass shootings in 2022 alone, and I have every confidence that by the time you read this, there will have been more. Conversation after these tragedies immediately goes to gun violence and gun laws, but only rarely does it go to motivation — such as the kind of racism promoted by a host of entities, including elected representatives such as New York’s Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 Republican legislator, and media personalities such as the cosmically-constipated Tucker Carlson, who has made a living promoting steaming piles of racism.
So we should talk about the rotten core of racism in our culture. We should also talk about media literacy that might help people see broadcast that promote steaming piles for what they are.
Meanwhile, I believe this Lyft driver is doing precisely what the rest of us need to do. This is on us, and we must call it out.
I admire this driver very much. He saw it. He called it out. And those of us who enjoy white privilege must do the same. There’s sin in the camp, brothers and sisters, and we must root it out.
The ammosexuals and racists have made it difficult to use the phrase "thoughts and prayers" which many of us use when a friend or acquaintance has some kind of life challenge. Trumpism has taken racism from the bar rooms and kitchen tables out into the wide open public....Charlottesville happened with little outrage from the gQp, the same basic reaction we saw after Charleston, Pittsburgh and now Buffalo....D's must use strong and strident language to combat the likes of Stefanik et al. The time for quiet politeness has long since past!!
I absolutely love the reaction of that driver. You can tell how authentic it was to who he is. He didn't even have to think about it. We should all be like this guy.