THE RE-AWAKENING

ART OF HEALING | NATIONAL DIABETES

Iassume most persons are familiar with D. W. Griffith’s 1915 horribly racist film “Birth of a

Nation”. Now in 2021 perhaps we will find the reawakening of a nation with persons who never took action before, on the front lines of the demonstrations, protests and marches. We find ethnically, cultural diverse adults and students confronting attitudes towards prejudice, and exploring issues of selfworth, self- image, cultural pride and personal observations. “No justice, no peace” is the slogan that was used to protest ethnic violence against African Americans by Whites, but now it includes Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, and the LGBTQ community. The protesters, many of them with trans-led LGBTQ advocacy group No Justice No Pride. Certainly, police brutality directed toward Black people in the U.S. is not new. The chant and hashtag “say their name” brings attention to the brutal killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and many others. The police killing of George Floyd sparked widespread protests and reignited efforts across the U.S. to remove Confederate and other statues viewed as symbols of slavery and racism. Some monuments in cities were vandalized or torn down by protestors, or removed by public officials. Recently, lawmakers in the House on passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a modification bill that would ban chokeholds and alter professed qualified immunity for law enforcement.

It would also ban no-knock warrants in certain cases, mandate information collection on police encounters, prohibit racial and religious profiling and redirect funding to communitybased policing programs. The Bill is waiting Senate approval.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is now on trial on three charges in the death of Floyd. The defense is planting a seed blaming Floyd for his death, citing controlled substances in his body but the expert scientists acknowledge the cause of Floyd’s death was Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck and back that prohibited him from breathing. Let’s await the jury’s verdict.

Most progressive people understand that what has happened in the past, effects what is going on in our present, so the group Coalition against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR) has been holding town halls to gauge public safety. Co-chair John Chasnoff said he found police do not necessarily make people feel safer, while health care, education and jobs do.

CAPCR recently presented a two-part serieslooking at “modern” policing. How did it begin with industrialization? How did its myths differ from reality? How did that basis lead us to where we are today and how does that point the way forward?

This series was designed for organizers and activists who need to better understand why police do what they do, in order to be more effective in pushing for change.

With the passing President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan that included up to $1,400 stimulus checks to many Americans, and billions of dollars for states and municipalities, schools, small businesses and vaccine distribution, perhaps there can be a “Rebirth of America”.

Will there be a “Re-Birth of this Nation”? With national recognition of Juneteenth, and the Black National Anthem played at NFL games, discussions about struggling schools, family separation, and a lack of opportunities as a direct result of being disproportionately stopped and harassed and punished by police, who knows where this may lead?