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鈥檚 going on, Eoin Devereux requested an additional space within the pages of the Banner & Press to briefly discuss the situation.
I don鈥檛 know what to do. From the relative safety of small town Canada, I鈥檓 watching, in real time, the United States of America crumble.
I don鈥檛 know how to stop feeling helpless. But honestly, what I鈥檓 feeling is likely a fraction of what African Americans feel, not just now, but on a constant basis.
I don鈥檛 know how to facilitate change to the systemic problems of a nation of which I鈥檓 not even a citizen. Especially since I can鈥檛 say, with any certainty, that I ever attempted to facilitate the type of change that鈥檚 needed right here at home.
I don鈥檛 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鈥檛 about me.
I鈥檓 not smart enough to properly encapsulate what鈥檚 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鈥檚 happening right now isn鈥檛 something to quip about. And it isn鈥檛 something to simply re-tweet or sign a petition for or show up at a march and then go back to our 鈥渘ormal鈥� lives. Normal is the problem right now. Because my normal is not the same as what George Floyd鈥檚 normal was.
I don鈥檛 know what to do right now, but I do know that simply doing nothing is not the answer. It wasn鈥檛 the answer before all of this either, but I just didn鈥檛 see it...or maybe I didn鈥檛 bother to look.
All lives will matter, but only when they matter equally.
Disclaimer: Column like I see 鈥榚m is a monthly opinion column for the Neepawa Banner & Press. The views expressed in the article are the writer鈥檚 personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Neepawa Banner & Press.
