George Floyd.

It’s devastating to see what happened to this man. It’s disgusting, and the sadly the latest in a long, long line of examples of police brutality towards black people.

I’m so sorry for his family and so sorry once again for the wider community that he is part of.

I’m guarding against the pull to:

- Desensitise (close my eyes, fingers in ears, pretend it’s not happening)

- Detach (it’s just America... Trump, right... our police aren’t as bad as that...)

When I desensitise, I dehumanise.
The cost of trading reality for comfort is that we both undermine the personhood of any who suffer, and lose a portion of our own humanity as a result.

Left unchecked for too long and there won’t be anything left: of ourselves, and of our perception of others (and what we’re willing to let happen to them).

When I detach, I am sold a lie. It’s a hell-borne illusion to think that systematic oppression is someone else’s problem. Desmond Ziggy Mombeyarara was tasered in front of his child by police officers in Stretford just a few weeks ago.

It’s right here in front of all of our faces and not something we can manage in our consciences by trying to keep at ocean’s length.

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

I am my brother’s keeper.

Jesus, help us.