One of the better op-ed pieces about the current civil unrest I've read is one from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "Don't Understand the Protests? What You're Seeing Is People Pushed to the Edge"
Here are some significant snippets from the column.
"You start to wonder if it should be all black people who wear body cams, not the cops."
"You're not wrong - but you're not right, either. The black community is used to the institutional racism inherent in education, the justice system and jobs. And even though we do all the conventional things to raise public and political awareness - write articulate and insightful pieces in The Atlantic, explain the continued devastation on CNN, support candidates who promise change - the needle hardly budges."
"Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible - even if you're choking on it - until you let the sun in. The you see it's everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it's always still in the air.
"What you should see when you see black protesters in the age of Trump and coronavirus is people pushed to the edge, not because they want bars and nail salons open, but because they want to live. To breathe."
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