Cause for optimism amid turmoil
Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourner’s magazine, said in a recent Sojo Mail column: “Social change always comes when the next generation decides to no longer accept what the last generation accepted.”
There are two issues where I see hope for the future, and in both cases young people are involved.
This is especially the case with the first area of concern: gun violence. When former U.S. president Barack Obama was in office, I watched him agonize over several mass shootings in the U.S. He probably realized that the Republican Party was heavily supported and financed by the National Rifle Association.
However, some surviving high school students in Parkland, Fla. – where 17 fellow students had been killed – changed what seemed like a hopeless situation into one with hope.
As James Miller said in his column in the Herald on February 27, “If there’s any hope for a positive future, look no further than (these high school students) .... They understand the constitution better than most politicians .... They’ve all lived through the worst moments of their young lives... (and) they’re taking a stand such as making sure no other school experiences the horrors they’ve just witnessed.”
Eventually their stand led to the March for Our Lives movement across the U.S. and beyond. Even in Penticton, three Princess Margaret students were planning to attend a protest march in Spokane. And, as we now know, thousands attended the march in Washington on Feb. 24.
The other area where I see hope for change is in the fair treatment of Indigenous people in the justice system.
The hope was sparked when a Saskatchewan farmer, Gerald Stanley, was acquitted in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, a Cree aboriginal man. An all-white jury made the decision.
Dale Boyd, in a Penticton Herald article of Feb. 27, reported that, “Upwards of 50 people in Penticton joined thousands across the country in rallies Monday .... The rally outside the Penticton courthouse called for justice for Saskatchewan teenager Colten Boushie and Winnipeg teenager Tina Fontaine, whose alleged killers were recently acquitted by juries.”
Boyd also reported that a young person from the Osoyoos Indian Band, Mykelty Lezard, spoke at the rally and said: “My one question for the courts and the government is how many more of us are going to have to die?... I wake up every day and hear our sisters and brothers were murdered again. There is no justice.”
Boyd mentions lawyer Laurie Wilson who “acted as family spokesperson during the trial of Grace Robotti, who was convicted for the murder on Osoyoos Indian Band member Roxanne Louie in 2015.”
Wilson said, “I think this (rally) is the start of something that will ensure we won’t be silent, we’ll always be visible and I think that’s the only thing we can do at this level.”
Obviously the above rallies have received widespread momentum which, I believe, will lead to positive results for the Indigenous people in their quest for justice.
Harvie Barker is a Penticton resident and writer of inspirational messages. He’s the author of the book, A Good Word in Season Volume 8, now available at the front desk of The Penticton Herald for $10 with all proceeds to local charity.