Black Lives Matter

I’ve said it before and elsewhere, but mine is not the voice that you should be listening to right now. Seek out black voices, and the voices of those directly affected by police brutality. Seek out those who have studied the problem and its solutions.

If you want to know why I’ve been quiet of late, both here and on social media, that’s why, at least in part. With all that’s going on in the world, I needed space to let it be going on, and I didn’t feel the need to add my own noise to the signal.

There’s a different between being quiet and being silent, however, and in case it needs to be said: Black lives matter. I stand with protests and protesters. “Strip all oppressors of the weapons of war and hold them accountable for their brutality.”

The police, as they currently exist, are clearly not there to “protect and serve,” and they are far from the whole of the problem. Our entire “criminal justice” system is rotten. Its foundations are rotten. And until it is stripped down to those rotten foundations, and they are torn up, we will never have true peace.

As a friend said on Facebook, “Eat the rich, burn down the oppressive, racist system we have, and build something new and beautiful from the ashes.” A better world is possible. The protests are showing us that.

The police, as they currently exist, need to be replaced with things that actually protect and serve the public – all of the public. Social services that can give people the help they need and address the injustices and inequities that result in crime. And that is just the beginning.

Change like this takes time, but it’s also been a long time coming. I’m looking forward to it. If you’re not, well, in the words of Games Workshop’s “Warhammer is for everyone” message, “you will not be missed.”