This isn't about a single bad cop , or even a small group of them.This is about a system designed to kill, maim, ruin, subjugate, persecute, enslave, and denigrate. It was designed this way. What we have today is no dumb accident or the result of a few bad folks ruining it for everyone else. And it's not just cops either, it's the entire "justice" system.

Please, if you're reading this right now and you just can't wrap your mind around why this happening, I implore you, I beseech you to read The New Jim Crow (hey, I'll even buy you a copy). It's a literal tome of a book, it's hard to get through and it'll take you a long time. It's incredibly detailed and well researched, and it'll walk you through the entire timeline of how we got to today.

And yes, the book is chock full of citations. It isn't some opinion piece, some deep fried Facebook meme, or the anecdotes of a policeman uncle, it's cold hard facts.

Are you really watching police brutalize protestors and thinking to yourself that it's okay? There are so many videos of unprovoked attacks on not only protestors, but journalists too. Are you really defending those who are aiming for vital organs? Against unarmed humans?

And please, don't give me that line about how things move slow, that reform is slow, that justice is slow.

Because "justice" moves in damn quick for the people in these communities. It takes their lives, it steals their futures, and it's fucked with them for generations. All they really want is the same sort of due diligence we're giving to a murderer.

Listen, I get it. Not all police are bad. Now if only you could jump to the next logical step and realize that the statistics around incarceration in our country don't make any sense. If you think they do, ding ding ding, congrats that's racist!

Because let me fill you in a secret, racism isn't usually overt. It's not like what you see in Hollywood or on TV, typically it's just the things we do as a society and accept. So if you accept our current system, I hate to say it, that's racist. Don't be hurt by that remark, because here's the great thing, you don't have to accept it! You can choose to fight for justice, you can choose to reject our current system of mass incarceration, police brutality, and fear. You. have. a. choice. These communities, they don't get a choice.

And please, don't talk to me about how you support the protests but can't support the riots. Don't get distracted from the real thing we're here to solve.

Besides, if we really wanted to end this as a society, we could do it immediately by implementing reform. Instead, we're doubling down on the current system, and even treading into new fascist territory.

So instead of asking for protests to end, for curfews to be respected, maybe ask for reform. Call your representatives, beseech them to do something progressive instead of oppressive. Put the pressure on those who have power, not those subjugated by it.

And do not hit me with that "But people who aren't responsible are getting hurt" line. We are all responsible for what we do as a society (here, AND around the world!). If we want to blame someone for the destruction, we should be blaming ourselves. We've done next to nothing for years on end, watching these communities get destroyed. We've watched our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our children, our friends without ever doing a thing.

Listen, I get it. Your friend's store burned down and now you're upset. I just want you to take that same righteous indignation, that burning fire inside yourself, and apply it to something else. Because that intensity, that rage, that energy, it can be used for something good rather than hate.

Because you know what else sucks in addition to businesses burning? Folks dying for no other reason than the color of their skin. If you're asleep when it comes to human costs, but awake when it turns economical, take a look deep inside yourself.

If you make peaceful revolution impossible, if you deny justice for too long, things like this are bound to happen.

So don't pretend that society at large "didn't do anything".

By doing nothing, we all did a whole lot of something.