For the sake of our children, we must do better
It is 5 a.m. Sunday and I am sitting on the couch in our upstairs room feeding my 4-month-old son. I am exhausted. But today’s early morning exhaustion is not the typical new parent fatigue that comes with the territory of caring for an infant. It is because I stayed up to just four hours ago, watching in disbelief as downtown Albany near South Pearl Street erupted in riotous violence.
Albany joined the cacophony of destruction seen in dozens of cities across this country in the wake of yet another black person’s death through excessive police force. The crime this man, George Floyd, committed? None. He was being detained for questioning in an attempted forgery when the officer obstructed his breathing and forever silenced him.
A death sentence, particularly without trial or even charges, is not a valid response to any crime, but even less so for a nonviolent offense. Make no mistake, this is another killing, in a long line of killings spanning centuries, in which no one was to be held accountable. Another wrongful death at the hands of the police, in which few with the power to do something will aggressively pursue the changes needed to prevent another such death.
What is needed is a thorough overhaul of our criminal justice system, to include better training of officers and increased accountability for their actions. More broadly, comprehensive changes are long overdue beyond criminal justice; they’re needed in our economic, health care, and education systems as well.
As the tear gas evaporates into the ether along with the dew of an early Sunday morning, the sun casts its first rays onto the shattered window glass on dozens of U.S. city streets, including South Pearl Street in our beloved capital city. I think about not where we are as a country nor even where we are headed, but rather where we deserve to be and where we should collectively strive to be. Not for me, but for this new person, cradled in my arms, counting on me, counting on us, for more than the milk in his bottle.