Grumpy Grandpa

Post 4.    Black Lives --All lives-- Matter .     Just in case you missed Sunday's (June 7) Washington Post , Here are some of the reasons that African-Americans, people of color, minorities, and folks in general are so shocked and outraged.  The following is a partial list of people killed in the last six years due to police violence:      1.  2014--Michael Brown, age 18, shot scuffling with a police officer, Furgason, Mo.       2.  2014-- Eric Garner, age 27, choked to death by NYC police.      3.  2015 --Freddie Gray Jr., age 25,spinal cord injury in police custody in Baltimore.      4.  2015--Sandra Bland, age 28, died in jail after arrest for traffic violation, Prairie View, Texas.      5.   2015--Corey Jones, age 31, shot at his disabled car, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.      6.  2016--Alton Sterling, ...

Post 3.  Today, almost a week after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, the national toll is still to be calculated.  The trauma of witnessing his unnecessary death remains, and will remain, etched in our collective memory.  The protests which seemed to evolve naturally should have been no surprise to anyone.  In this age of instant communication, with seemingly endless slayings of unarmed but also minority citizens, the anger develops and builds up.   Add to that the frustration of our national helplessness in the face of the Covid-19, the millions and millions out of work, hanging on the barbed wire of financial ruin, the uncertainty of infection, and the feeling of vulnerability shared by most of us, and the fuel for protests and violence was amply present.   That some miniscule minority would see the protests and unrest as opportunities to wreck mayhem and to loot should not be surprising.  What we, as a society, have to ...