NRU on race and suicide

These are some dark days ... couldn't keep from posting these.

This is the best I have read on Sandy Bland -- but admittedly, I have had a hard time reading about this AGAIN.  It is too much ... when will we learn? When will we demand respect for all as citizens? When will we check the pride and arrogance of so-called peace officers?

I would apologize for bringing only heavy subjects here for this edition, but these are issues that deserve cogent and deliberate thought and explanation.  This NYTimes article, in the usual long style, is not rambling at all.  It gets right to the point, tells the story of several people, including the focal point who made it through her dark night, in a professional, tactful and insightful way.  In other words, I am bringing these articles as examples of constructive ways to grapple with these hard issues.

One more ... with a silver lining.  I have heard this man's story on NPR and read about it before, but I had never seen the visual.  This piece from the Guardian brings it all home.  Thank goodness for this second chance, thank goodness for those who are not afraid to reach out and offer a hand and a heart and an ear.

Generally speaking, I do not condone news stories based on viral videos, but since I don't usually partake of viral videos, I was interested to read this story.  I can't say excited to read it, more like outraged.  I cannot count the number of times I had to endure dirty looks anytime my mother said something to me in Spanish. My response to this kind of racist nonsense is usually to ask if they would rather I spoke French or Italian, which I can -- in addition to Spanish and English.  Let's be clear, my mother speaks English or Spanish whenever she feels like it -- not because she can't speak one or the other.  To be fair, I suffer a similar racism from Spanish speakers when they hear me speak Spanish -- because someone who looks like me apparently shouldn't be able to speak Spanish.  Judging anyone by what they look like or how they speak or because of the language they speak -- all these actions are racist.  No question.