America — a nation at war with itself!

This weekend in America was a weekend of extremes! On one hand there were widespread mass protests for the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd, and on another, SpaceX launched its first manned spacecraft and started a new era in private companies sending astronauts to space.

The SpaceX launch was about the same time we started getting reports of George Floyd protesters blocking one of Austin’s most commonly used InterState I-35. That is when I realized the gravity of the ongoing protests! Thousands of protesters, masked or unmasked and maintaining no social distancing, were out on the streets protesting the death of a black man -George Floyd- who was brutally killed by a white policeman Derek Chauvin because he showed resistance when initially told to come out of the car. Multiple witnesses indicated Mr Floyd was complying and not resisting.

While a video has been released showing officer Chauvin suffocating Mr. Floyd, I have decided not to watch it simply because it’s deeply disturbing! What kind of a person does something like this?? We have seen plenty of similar scenes in movies but this is stunningly real!

There have been plenty of other cases of racism in the history of America including murders of several Black folks by white racists as well as mass shootings of young kids. But somehow this is the most sensitive I have felt. I am not sure why. Maybe because I have more time on my hands or maybe the pent up emotions from staying home due to COVID-19 have no other release. Maybe it’s both.

I am not really sure what it is that I want to say to you today besides the fact that we can do better than this. We as a nation, and as a human race, ought to be more tolerant towards each other. America is nothing without its diversity and immigrants. To peacefully co-exist here, we will have to re-learn the art of respecting individuals, religions, perspectives and maybe, for once, listen to our conscience.

Is there a way we could train our tough police officers to have a moral compass even in the midst of a chaos? Is there a way we can encourage them to listen to themselves before another innocent life is taken? I hope there is.