When Happens After

Where do we start?

It’s the question that I ask myself all the time. These last few months have been hard for so many reasons. They’ve been tragic, they’ve forced us to confront things about ourselves, and the way we live. But in all that, these months have been inspiring. They’ve given me hope that this country can live up to its creeds and its long overdue promises. As Dr. King said, we just want America to be what it claims to be on paper. A place of Liberty and unhindered pursuits of happiness and the American Dream. The protests and activism for Black Lives that we’ve seen since May 25th has been incredible, and it has produced some real change in our country, and in our local communities. But now, two months later, we are faced with an evolving revolution and a resounding question.

What happens now?

What happens when the protests subside, when many shift focus toward other issues? What happens in the age of COVID, where everything seems to be so overwhelming. It’s so easy to be selfish right now. I don’t think it’s ever been easier. And some people will resort to that, because it’s the easy thing to do. To care about yours and your own. But for us to move forward, for us to create lasting change, none of us can be selfish. Being selfish breeds complacency, and complacency snuffs out change.

So what do we do now? For starters, we cannot stop. We cannot stop. We cannot stop protesting in the streets. We cannot stop disrupting the system and our social feeds. Too many of us have gone back to our normal lives. Normal can never exist again. Because for many of us “Normal” was a nightmare. Normal was being prosecuted for being brown. Normal was a constant fear of those sworn to protect us, and a constant anger that this, in what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, is still the hand we’ve been dealt.

Normal should never be normal again. We have to create a new version of our country, and our world...now. We must create a world where the justice system works for all. Where hiring managers hire based on talent, and nothing else. We must create schools across this country that are equal, and opportunities for college that are endless no matter where you come from, or what street you grew up on. We must create a version of our police force where accountability ranks first, where protecting our own doesn’t trump the ethics of human dignity. We must demand that our leaders and our officials help create this version of OUR country, and do not stand in the way of what we want.

And if they can’t give us what we want, then their time is up. Too many of our elected leaders bend more to the weight of corporations and donors, than to our hand. And that has to change. Every American should be registered to vote, and have the power to execute their rights. And we must be constantly vigilant of people in power parading measures in the name of security that are meant to take the vote away from others.

I don't know if there will ever be an election as important as this one in my lifetime. We are legitimately fighting for the soul of our country. Because make it be known, our country cannot be this. Our country can’t survive being this. Our leaders cannot be racists. They can not be antisemitic, homphobic, or zenophobic. Our leaders cannot condone the torture of children, and the continued destruction of our environment.

We must continue to stay focused on what we really want. We will not bend to empty gestures. We will not accept the changing of street names without the changing of laws to accompany them. We will not accept cops kneeling in the streets if it's not the first step in reforming the entire system, and making it work for everyone. We will not accept companies parading their twitter posts about diversity and inclusion, if their hiring processes continue to snuff out the very thing they claim to care so deeply about. And we will not accept the removal of statues as enough if schools continue to teach white washed versions of our history, making men fighting to own other men out to be martyrs.

And above all, we must never allow racism and bigotry to fester in our lives. Changing our world starts with changing yours. Every single one of us has the power to make the lives of billions better everyday. We have the power to call out our friends for their racist comments, and their racist ideals. Fighting racism and bigotry starts on the frontlines, in our living rooms, in our churches, in our breakfast clubs and schools. It starts with one person saying enough.

Enough.

I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or next year, or in the next decade. But I know it’ll be painful, and it’ll test our resolve, and our patience. It will make us think about giving up. But I beg you to never stop fighting. Never stop fighting for justice, and equality, and the rights of your brothers and sisters. March in the streets. Bring that fire to the polls. And make sure no racism is allowed to exist in your presence. If we do these things, we can change the world.

We can change it all.

EICHEL