Thoughtful Thursday

It's Thoughtful Thursday. This thought builds on what I've been saying "seek first to understand, then to be understood".

In the days following the murder of George Floyd cities across the nations were thrown into chaos. Businesses would be looted and riots would take place. Buildings would be burnt and lives would be forever changed for those whose lives were in those businesses and buildings without being George Floyd, the officers or those associated with them.

I've read articles and watched videos of so much good that has brought communities together, stronger than they were before. And of course, there are the heartbreaking stories of more police brutality, more citizen crimes and of lives senselessly lost in relation to "the straw that broke the camel's back".

In the city of Raleigh where my son and I stay, there were two shootings in the neighborhood we've been staying in. Saying "the neighborhood" we live in is an understatement really. We stay with my son's family in an economically oppressed housing complex with the residents being predominantly non-White.

Both of the shootings happened outside the back door of the apartment we live in. Thankfully it wasn't on the sidewalk on the back side of the house. Both were less than 250 feet from the back door. One of them was in the middle of the night when Raleigh had riots.

The other one though... that one happened between 7:30 and 8:15 at night when Wisdom and I were outside. He was riding his scooter before it got dark. I was sitting on the porch watching him. Being from the suburbs, I thought I was hearing fire crackers going off. Perhaps I didn't want to believe they were actually gun shots especially since there were probably people leaving Downtown Raleigh around that time after protesting police brutality.

There was a child, no older than ten, who was riding on a skateboard down the same hill as my son. He went rolling past me saying "everybody get inside". Wisdom was still on the sidewalk coming down the hill. I waited. I didn't want to believe this child knew better than I did.

A few minutes later a woman came running. She was shouting, asking where her sister was. When she found out, she turned and walked back the other way. Then other people started to emerge as the police cars showed up. There had to be five or six.

From the conversations that were being had, in the moments after the shooting, apparently the shooter was a female. The next day I found out a fifteen year old was shot. I also found out it was mentioned on the news.

There were no riots. There didn't even seem to be any anger. No one was mad at the police and emergency vehicles for showing up then. Wisdom and I went into the house. I looked out the back window and could watch everything going on. I didn't.

While it didn't seem like anyone was concerned, except to say "I'm keeping my behind in the house", I'm pissed.

I'm pissed because it's very likely someone who had been sitting out there knows who the shooters was. And no one will tell. I'm pissed because if the place we stayed in was level with the street instead of at the bottom of a hill, and the shooter decided to rain bullets as they drove by, my son could have been among the injured, or worse, dead. I'm pissed and I have every right to be because I know politics won't change the heart of the shooter or the accomplices if they are ever apprehended.

Think about that today.

Create today. It's another amazing day in paradise. May your choices make it the best day ever. Peace...