The Dystopian Times, 15. The Day of Reckoning Nears.

Again. It's happened again. And it will happen again, and again. Another man shot in the assumption that he was going to get a gun, or a knife, or anything to use as a weapon. Why did the police enter into that assumption? Because he was Black. 

George Floyd's killing created a torment across the nation last May. But that killing and the following protests brought no changes, merely entrenchment from an openly racist federal government. This week, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, another Black man was killed at the hands of a police officer, an officer that swore to uphold the law and protect the citizens of his city. 

It seems that the police were with Jacob Blake for about three minutes before following him to his car and shooting at him seven times, hitting him four. The man was leaning into his car as he was shot. In his car were his three sons. Later testimonies said there was also a knife under the front seat. 

So, there was a knife under the seat. So, Jacob Blake apparently had an outstanding warrant against him. But Jacob Blake was not advancing on the police officer, knife in hand. He was not acting suspiciously other than to lean into a car. A car that held his three sons, and that one assumes he was trying to reassure, after their seeing police arriving and immediately trying to subdue their father. IF he had backed out of that car with a knife in his hand, then it might have been justifiable to shoot at him. But there was no indication that Blake was going to the car for the knife, in the slow, calm way he was walking. Now, Jacob Blake is in the hospital, and may probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Another man, another night. Shots have recently been fired. People are crying out, "He's been shot in the stomach!" A man, a white man, holds his rifle high as armored police vehicles rumble by. The police thank him for helping, and throw him a bottle of water. In the meantime, two people that he just shot, died, and another had his arm seriously damaged. The white man with the rifle in his hands, Kyle Rittenhouse, was seventeen years old, and had crossed state lines with that rifle. He had broken two laws merely holding his rifle high in Kenosha, having brought it from home. Those rifles cannot be carried across state lines, and he could not carry such a rifle, not being at least eighteen.

So, what's the difference? Jacob Blake was shot in the back by police who immediately assumed he was an imminent threat to them because of the warrant. Yet, another man, who had just shot three people, and had committed two illegalities was thanked. But Blake was Black, and Rittenhouse was white.

And that's the difference. It doesn't matter that one belonged to a vigilante group that took it upon themselve to protect property that wasn't even theirs, from looters and arsonists. That those groups considered property more important than lives. It doesn't matter than another one presented no immediate threat, and was checking on his minor children. That he had been trying to de-escalate an argument in a front yard. 

What kind of world is this when what matters most is property and not lives? What kind of world in which the color of one's skin determines whether or not one is a threat? That is today's United States. The world is looking upon what is happening there in stupefaction. Where is the greatness Donald Trump touts? What makes a country great? Is it caring for one's people, making sure of their well-being? Or is it making sure that certain types of people, that fit a certain description, get the cake and the rest don't even get the crumbs? Those who look on, thinking it doesn't affect them, would do well to pitch in and try to make a difference. Because a day of reckoning is nearing. 

Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Life continues.