“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
~Martin Luther King
America is in the middle of a very painful transition. Growth of any kind is painful. And it isn’t the change itself that causes the pain, but rather the resistance to change.
While it is easy and understandable to condemn those who riot and cause damage, but for many it is an act of desperation. A last attempt to be heard when all other attempts had failed.
The LA riots of 1992 were a response to acquittal of four police officers of the brutal beating of Rodney King. The riots lasted for several days and spread to most of the metropolitan area. However, that was not heard.
Dr. King said in a speech in 1967, that riots do not develop out of thin air. But rather, out of conditions which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn the riots. I would add that those who resist change should also be condemned.
Watching America right now, there are over 75 major cities with protests against police brutality and racism. So who is for police brutality? Who is for racism? If no one is, then why have they not been changed? And if someone is, then why have they not been called out for it.
As we begin PRIDE month, we look at where the gay rights movement started. On that hot June night in 1968, with a riot at the Stonewall Inn. Where once again the ‘authorities’ repeatedly invaded and harassed an outlying group. That riot was started by a drag queen of colour, and a trans-gendered woman and kicked off a movement. There would not be gay rights movement without black people. Let me say that again for the people in the back,
There would not be a gay rights movement without black people!
I desperately hope that this is a watershed moment. I hope that we will look back with pride at this time when millions of people marched in the streets to demand a better future. Property can be repaired, looted items are covered by insurance, but history will remember how we responded to these riots. Did we turn away, or did we finally hear the unheard.