Tell Me, Who Are You?

"Well you can go sleep at home tonight
if you can get up and walk away..."

* Late Spring, Morning PSA:
Never, ever, ever take a weapon off a police officer and fire it at him.  Ever.  If you are caught behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated, man up and don't resist arrest.  It's mandatory they take you in, if you were caught behind the wheel.  (Want to sleep it off?  Find a quiet, out of the way corner, lock the doors and slide into the passenger, or the backseat.  Never admit to driving while intoxicated, and pull over and get out of the drivers' seat once you realize you are.)  It's tragic when a father who is a seemingly good man makes poor choices, resists arrest, and worse:  attacks an officer or two.  You will never win if you cannot control yourself and attack physically.

Many, many people will offer outrage, and encouragement. "No Justice, No Peace" writes oldman columnist Eugene Robinson today. He is willing to sacrifice more young black life, rather than to tell them what they need to hear to save their lives:

• Never, ever, ever take a weapon off a police officer and fire it at him.  Ever.  
• If you are caught behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated, man up and don't resist arrest.  You are likely not thinking straight, and the place to contest the charges is in court, not in the street. 
• If you want peace, work for justice. Nothing comes from nothing, and street justice is as far from the corridors of power, pretty much, as you can be.  Your life is more at risk on the streets too, and you will likely not live as long as those who fight not physically, but with reason, inside, protected, using their brains not their bodies.

It's interesting to me too, that the mostly white Major League Baseball players appear to be balking at suiting up and starting a season while questions of the risks of the Coronavirus transmission are still unknown.  Yet the majority black NBA will be back entertaining in another month?

It's not a concern so much for the players who run risks, (but of course, even sheltered in isolation in Orlando, they do...) it's the fans who will indeed gather -- inside, en masse -- to watch games, outside of the arena. Especially playoffs and finals.

The NFL marches on, prepared to kneel to the gods of commerce now and make the necessary sacrifices so that not one game is lost.  They too, appear to be a minority-dominated player league at this time, though I am not sure of the overall NFL racial statistics.

I wonder... baseball would be the safest, you would think, since listening on the radio in the summer is a more isolated entertainment offering than coming together at private homes and in sports bars to watch the NBA and NFL.  If there is suddenly a newfound power gained from the racial protests, will the athletes use that soon to protect themselves -- and their fanbase?   It's not a onetime rally or event, like the planned presidential gatherings -- it's a season, albeit shortened.

You'd hate to see all this destruction and damage peter out with only a fallen statue or symbolic promises of demonstration -- kneeling, in unity, as one -- to show for really saving people's lives and setting them on healthier and less deadly paths.