Column like I see 'em - Watching from the sidelines for too long
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- Published on Friday, June 5, 2020
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press
Note: Protests related to the death of George Floyd continue to spread across the United States and Canada. In relation to what’s going on, Eoin Devereux requested an additional space within the pages of the Banner & Press to briefly discuss the situation.
I don’t know what to do. From the relative safety of small town Canada, I’m watching, in real time, the United States of America crumble.
I don’t know how to stop feeling helpless. But honestly, what I’m feeling is likely a fraction of what African Americans feel, not just now, but on a constant basis.
I don’t know how to facilitate change to the systemic problems of a nation of which I’m not even a citizen. Especially since I can’t say, with any certainty, that I ever attempted to facilitate the type of change that’s needed right here at home.
I don’t know what to say. It feels wrong, and maybe just a little bit selfish, for me to talk about my feelings of confusion, sadness and anger. This isn’t about me.
I’m not smart enough to properly encapsulate what’s happening and how to solve anything. This column is honestly just a monthly therapy session for me to throw out some sarcastic quips and righteous anger about the stupidity of the world. But what’s happening right now isn’t something to quip about. And it isn’t something to simply re-tweet or sign a petition for or show up at a march and then go back to our “normal” lives. Normal is the problem right now. Because my normal is not the same as what George Floyd’s normal was.
I don’t know what to do right now, but I do know that simply doing nothing is not the answer. It wasn’t the answer before all of this either, but I just didn’t see it...or maybe I didn’t bother to look.
All lives will matter, but only when they matter equally.
Disclaimer: Column like I see ‘em is a monthly opinion column for the Neepawa Banner & Press. The views expressed in the article are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Neepawa Banner & Press.
