The year 2020 will be remembered for so many things. Last week we talked about the lessons of the pandemic. Another giant event in this year was the eruption of protests against historical and systemic prejudice. We've seen marches against police brutality, against governmental corruption, against racial disparities, against sexual predation, among others. What is to be learned from this?
- We cannot ignore historically underserved communities and not expect some sort of backlash. How we treat others, or allow our societies to treat them, will someday affect ourselves.
- Our police have forgotten how to relate to others as fellow humans and fallen into the trap of becoming tools of armament vendors. What happened to the neighborhood cop that everyone knew?
- Our police have also been asked to play too many roles -- peace-keeper, social worker, psychologist, addictions counselor and so on -- and are asked to do so in places where people are heavily armed, mentally unbalanced, or desperate. Our societies need to get back to providing social funding to help support the poor, the emotionally distraught, those with mental illness, and those with addictions. If we fund people first, the police can get back to serving as peace-keepers.
- Sub-groups in our societies will no longer be kept down. The power of these marches show that it will no longer be acceptable to discriminate against any group that is not part of the ruling class. There is power in the unity of resistance.
It seems clear that these lessons will carry us forward as we build a better society, a better future. May we never forget.
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