Listen to the Silence

...a bad week. No matter how you want to describe it, paint it, view it .. whether you ascribe to the differing view points that are pro-protestor, pro-police, anti-riot or ACAB (all cops are bastards) -- it's been a week for the record books.  And I find myself today having "the talk" with my 14 year old daughter, and trying to explain it to her.   Because I know she's getting some things from her friends, and some from online (which is essentially left slant heaven, every major media source), and from my ex (which is essentially ACAB), and...she needs perspective.  She's growing up as someone with dark skin in America, and more and more her features are developing into those of a young lady - she can't pass for a darkly tanned white girl anymore.  It's past time she's had the talk, for all that I despise the fact that she has to receive it.   So where to start.  Start with this.   If you aren't a minority in America, you don't understand what

Minneapolis is Burning.  The city on the lake is on fire, and not just with tension, racial and economic.   It's literally on fire, as police are forced to abandon their stations, and fires go untreated as the sheer press of bodies keeps firefighters and first responders from being able to respond to alarms.  And for the first time, I have to think... maybe this time its' right.  In Minneapolis, an officer committed murder, while wearing the shield and uniform that I've considered sacrosanct for the 40 years of my life.   Before I could pronounce the words to the oath, I considered the badge of an Officer something sacred.  It was up there with the uniform of an Army Officer or a Marine.  You took it, and the oath that came with it, and you bound yourself to a meaning larger than yourself.  Only God, and your brothers (and sisters) could judge what you had done, and be the final arbiter of whether you deserved to be called a good cop, or a disgrace to the badge.  But lately

Don’t ever try to judge me, dude, You don’t know what the fuck I’ve been through. Don’t like it?   Don’t listen.  Same as all my writings.   I get plenty of hate mail.  I’ve long ago stopped holding my tongue at left leaning events (which most are in the lifestyle, these days.  *dramatic sigh*) So. “If you really wanted to be an ally to POC, you’d give…” “If men were actually allies for women, they would…” “If you ever want to be an ally to <insert group>, you have to…” Okay.  Here we go. You ain’t gonna like this.  I’d say trigger warning – but I only give those when I’m already halfway through the trigger squeeze.  (And it sounds like “drop the weapon!”, not “be careful of your feelings!”) Preamble.   I’m Native.   My people were here before yours.   ANY of yours.  Yet we still have the highest poverty per capita (by person, AND household) in the US.  We receive the lowest (just about none) help from any government or private group.  The weakest c