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Last night, Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his children. This wasn’t an accident. The officer’s deadly actions attempted to take a person’s life in broad daylight. Like many of you, the video is burned into my mind like all the past videos just like it.
The irony is not lost on me that as Jacob Blake was trying to deescalate a fight in his community, the responding officer didn’t feel the need to do the same—and now we all know Jacob Blake’s name.
As we’ve said before, this violence is all too familiar to us, especially for those of us who are on the receiving end—whose communities are overpoliced, whose children learn early on that police officers aren’t always serving and protecting them as they should.
This didn’t start or end with George Floyd, and I would hate to see it not end with Jacob Blake—that’s why we need to respond. We know we cannot remedy the white supremacy and systemic racism that are built into our systems in a few years or with just this package of legislation.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t act. That doesn’t mean we stand still. We have to do everything in our power to, first, call out the systemic violence that happens every day in this state and in this country, and then do the work to rebuild those systems that perpetuate it.
Not just when a Black man is murdered in front of his children, but when schools that serve those children are underfunded, or when Black women have to fight to be heard in our health care system, or when Black communities are expected to live in more polluted environments.
These, too, are forms of systemic violence. And the consequences of these inequities reach every community. That’s why leaders at every level have an obligation to hear the demands of those marching in the streets—to see their pain, anger, and frustration as a call to action.
To everyone that is as tired as I am, know that I stand with you in the fight for a better world—a world where Black lives actually matter. A world with decency, with true justice, equity, and opportunity for all Black people.
And remember that that better world is always worth fighting for. Please take care of yourselves, please stay safe, and join me in praying for Jacob Blake and his family.
