Unlike people, not all deaths are created equal (in my opinion). What I mean is: a death caused by systematic oppression/racism (especially from an entity whose core purpose is to “serve and protect”) is in some deontological sense worse than a death resulting from e.g. a car accident or even a virus. Some things defy utilitarian calculus.
Also, you have to consider that there is widespread and life changing psychological injury (trauma) inflicted on minorities from years, decades, centuries of systemic injustice along every axis of life. Imagine being a child and growing up with a worldview that you and your loved ones are in constant danger (from people that are supposed to protect you, no less) based solely on the color of your skin. I keep thinking of the powerful words of George Floyd’s friend Stephen Jackson in this clip (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0JdWfUJYYU):
>”We, as black men, have seen a lot of stuff as far as people being murdered and taken from us, right? But now, not only it’s been seen by us and our brothers, but it’s been seen by our children now. So I’m sitting there watching this and my daughter...my daughter tells me, ‘Dad I can’t leave you, cause I seen what happened to your friend, and I think you need me.’ My daughter is 6 years old. For my daughter to see that, and tell me that I need her at 6, imagine the pain and frustration that’s in my mind right now”.
I've been a multi-sigma outlier my whole life. So, in a sense, I can relate. But in another sense, I envy the kind of community cohesiveness I have witnessed in the black community. I never had that kind of support when I was growing up. Always alone to deal with whatever aggressors crossed my path.
In my teenage years, I worked as a low status laborer in shops where I was one of a very few white people among mostly blacks. Most were indifferent to me. A few (all Christians) were saints, really, and I remember them kindly to this day. And a few, including my crew boss, were "unfriendly" at best, and in retrospect, racist as all hell. I don't particularly blame them, but I cannot condone this sort of behavior either.
I sympathize with those who suffer. We all suffer. And we all deserve such sympathy. Suffering, really, is the nature of being alive in our reality.
Is there more to do along this road? Yes. Are the killings and maimings we have seen over the last week in any way justified or "worth it"? No.
Also, you have to consider that there is widespread and life changing psychological injury (trauma) inflicted on minorities from years, decades, centuries of systemic injustice along every axis of life. Imagine being a child and growing up with a worldview that you and your loved ones are in constant danger (from people that are supposed to protect you, no less) based solely on the color of your skin. I keep thinking of the powerful words of George Floyd’s friend Stephen Jackson in this clip (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0JdWfUJYYU):
>”We, as black men, have seen a lot of stuff as far as people being murdered and taken from us, right? But now, not only it’s been seen by us and our brothers, but it’s been seen by our children now. So I’m sitting there watching this and my daughter...my daughter tells me, ‘Dad I can’t leave you, cause I seen what happened to your friend, and I think you need me.’ My daughter is 6 years old. For my daughter to see that, and tell me that I need her at 6, imagine the pain and frustration that’s in my mind right now”.