We need blindfolds

 January 6th was a travesty beyond the shock of seeing the Capital overrun and looted. Past the shamefulness of a presidentially incited insurrection stands something even worse. The riot on the capital is a brutal monument to the contrast in the way that people of color are treated in this country.

The images of the security shown for the BLM protests and the stark contrast of a fully understaffed and unprepared security force for "Stop the Steal" need to make us stop in our tracks and think. Why do we assess threat differently based on skin color?

If being able to overthrow a peaceful gathering of our leaders by breaking in windows and doors, by disregarding law enforcement and pushing and hammering at them, looting offices and breaking furniture and then walking away from it without consequence isn't white privilege I cannot fathom what else it is.

But while I question where the riot gear, and rubber bullets, and tear gas cannisters were; while I tamp down the anger I feel about this; I have to turn my gaze inward. You see the racist programming is there for me too. I have been making strides in recognizing it this year and steps in re-programming those thoughts. The biggest step is to start finding my voice. 

My voice isn't big, but it is mine. Today I will use it. It is my hope that all methods will be used to find and jail those who stormed the Capital. We cannot go backward and undo what has been done. We can go forward and make sure that we treat them exactly the same way we would if their skin was a different color. We need lady justice to wear her blindfold for this and then we need to keep on insisting that the blindfold stays in place. 

As a teacher of students who are visually impaired and blind, I am working on a degree in orientation and mobility. As part of that I work on walking a route by my house through a park with a white cane and a blindfold. While I do that, I hear the other people in the park. It doesn't matter what the color of their skin is. It doesn't matter if they teens or seniors, Republicans or Democrats. That is all gone. What matters is what I hear, how I am treated, how others around me are treated. 

The happy laughter of a group of teens makes me smile, But I wonder if the blindfold was off - if I saw a girls in hijabs or black teens in hoodies, would my smile fade? Just as egregious an error - if I saw white teens being mean and disrespectful, would I dismiss it?

I think we might all benefit from the use of a blindfold. 

Finally, leaders should be no less accountable than the populace. What happened the other day, that a sitting president whipped a crowd into a fury and then set it towards another branch of government in session is unthinkable. We cannot allow that to go without consequence. Our blindfolds need to block out the status, and power, and political affiliation for a bit. and the actions and words of individuals need to be weighed and called into account. 

I do not have a loud voice. But today with what voice I have, I will raise it in a demand for justice.