Not Today

I am in process of writing about lots of things.

• Teaching graphing (for some classes of ugly functions)
• Slamming the College Board, hoping to help sink them
• Questions about teaching in September
• Stories from my UFT Chapter
• Cuomo and nursing homes
• Thinking more about Chaz
• Social distancing
• Hikes
• Keeping pressure on the UFT leadership not to sacrifice our safety (I hope it is not necessary, but, you know, trust. And verify)
• Staying Healthy
• Logic Puzzles

But not today.

And in the back of my mind was a post about the presidential election.

• I was going to say, mostly to progressives, many of whom supported Bernie,
  * go ahead, defeat Trump. But if you do, that’s not enough.
  * And go ahed if it’s too much for you, don’t vote. But if that’s your act, that’s not enough.
• I was going to say that you need to keep fighting on the issues, no matter your attitude to the election.
  Do not pause, I would have said, the fight for
  * taxing the rich, for
  * medicare for all, for a
  * fight against the destruction of the environment.
  * For bail reform and an
  * overhaul of the “criminal” justice system, for
  * fair wages, for
  * housing justice.
  Do not pause those fights, I would have said, they must be continued, everyday.

But I’m not saying that today. Not today.

Today all eyes are on Minneapolis. All thoughts should be on George Floyd – murdered by a cop showing callous indifference to the life he was smothering.

Thoughts should be towards Ahmaud Arbery, executed for “jogging while Black.”

Our voices should be saying their names. And other names. Why are there always so many names? Tamir Rice. Sandra Bland. Look them up. Say them. Find the names. You cannot find them all. This is not a two minute exercise and on with your life.

There are thousands of names. There are names we cannot say. There are victims of police violence. And victims of lynching. And victims of a penal system that criminalized vagrancy to reenslave Black men. And victims of slavery. There are 232 years of names of Black people, mostly men – from the founding of this country. There are over 100 years more, from the founding of the colonies.

This land has allowed hundreds of years of acceptable violence, including executions, of Black people. And if the “law” looks away or the “law” does the killing, it amounts to the same thing. The “law” is ok with this violence toward Blacks.

I am not rallying for a few days, and moving on to the next cause.

I am remembering the victims whose names I know.

And I am committing myself, for today, and for the future, and for until this nightmare is ended.  I am committing myself to struggling to end it, until we end it.