As I think more and more about the current state of affairs. One thought has came across my mind and that is I am fortunate that I do not have to sit down and explain all of this chaos to my son. I do not have to explain how myself and my generation have slowly eroded the safeties and safeguards afforded me in my youth.
Explain to him how our society has elected people into positions of power to impact his individual autonomy. Today in 2026 he would not be able to defend himself from aggression, he would not be able to be upset at anything that happens. He would almost always be considered the aggressor. If the law became involved in anything he has done he would rarely receive the benefit of doubt.
People find that hard to believe. They believe that the system works and that someone that is accused of something must have done it. We speak that people are innocent until proven guilty but in reality majority of people are guilty until proven innocent, and even then being proven innocent is not enough for some people.
The subtle nature of people is to love and care for one another. To believe that the people they know cannot do something BUT the people accused must have done it. That there is no valid reason to do whatever they are accused of doing. And once that comes into place there is rarely any space for redemption. Our society prides itself in the belief that people should serve their time but once that time is served they are still held back and not given full acceptance. Society believes in redemption BUT someone else has to redeem them.
I have been fooled into believing that I am equal. Many people I know continue to tell me how things are better. They tell me how so many people they know are good people. This ignores the simple fact that when you see no labels you allow others to dictate how things are done. The default is racism and hatred. Silence allows the default to persist. You are either ACTIVELY against something or you are PASSIVELY for something. You can be actively for something but when you are passive, you are being in support of it, regardless of how you actually feel that you are.
This is why history is so powerful. It is a living example of how things were, and how things will be. Until someone motivates people to change the majority of people are complicit in whatever is the normal / default. You as a individual may not see people as black, white, brown, yellow, red, tall, short, fat, skinny, or their gender BUT that not seeing them for who they are allows the default to dominate and that default includes HATE and ANTI-BLACKNESS and that is harmful to those impacted the most.
People choose to do no harm, yet by being passive you are doing the most harm.