GEORGE FLOYD

I feel numb as I watch the protests across the country. It would seem as if one man’s death has spurred a ripple effect felt in communities everywhere. But it isn’t just one man’s death and my gut tells me that this may not be news of concern… everywhere. The chants, tears and screams of anguish and frustration are lost on some. There are some people who will see the protests as just another in a long list of complaints that people have about a system that they frequently find themselves apart of. Some people will fail to understand the severity of the situation, their attention hung on phrases like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and incorrect assumptions about what that means about them and their place in the world; their importance; their rights as a non-black person. They will counteract that statement with ‘All Lives Matter’ and close their minds and hearts to the differences that are so deeply ingrained within our systems that make the phrase necessary. Closed minds are not open to change.

Don’t all lives matter? Yes, they do. When God’s son surrendered his life on the cross He didn’t do it for just one group of people. Instead he gave his life for all. All lives are important to God, equally and they should be to us too. But when all lives are not treated equally, given the same rights and privileges, then it would seem that all lives don’t matter. And so, if all lives don’t matter then questions arise. Whose lives matter and why? My life matters to me and it should matter to you.

My life as a black American should matter to you because we are interconnected. We may not be from the same family, live in the same neighborhood or belong to the same social groups, but we are connected.  We are connected because of our Creator. The same God that breathed life into my being also breathed life into yours. We are connected because we share the same planet with limited resources and limited space. We are connected because we share the same basic desires to be loved, be happy and to feel safe. 

When we lose the ability to relate to others on their most basic levels; their most basic desires we lose a piece of our humanity.