Over the weekend I was asked what the trial of Derek Chauvin, and the potential if finding him guilty of 2nd degree unintentional murder, 3rd degree murder, and 2nd degree manslaughter, might change anything. And it's to my shame I said, "Nothing."
It isn't exactly true, of course. For Chauvin and his family, for George Floyd's family, for many of the protesters and arguers on both sides of his guilt and complicity, much will change if he's found guilty. But in general nothing will change. It may be jaded but I've lived for 60 years and the number of innocent and guilty people killed by guns has ebbed and flowed but never stopped completely. As a nation, we are too enamored of our weapons to ever give them up. As long as they exist in our homes and garages, they'll get brought into our schools, our churches, our stores and post offices. And they don't need to leave those homes to kill our most innocent or guilty.
My shame is not the jadedness of that belief of mine but that I have done little to change that long line of murdered dead. The litany of people killed by police is too long to post, even if I wanted to limit it to those killed this weekend, this month, this year. I don't know how long flags have been at half staff this year, but it seems it's been continuous since last summer. It may be that we haven't gone more than a week without flags at half staff. Surely, that's a condemnation of us. Surely, it's a reason we are being cut down.
