Yearning for justice

       My little corner of America was quiet this weekend even as it seemed the rest of the country was being burned down and looted.   I suspect many on either side of the cultural and political divide witnessed the same dichotomy.   We had a small demonstration in town on Saturday with a few dozen protestors supporting Black Lives Matter, although the black population of Clinton county is probably less than 2 %.   There was no counter demonstration, but I don't doubt a majority is appalled by both the cause and the effects of the violence.
      I remember 1967 and the civil unrest, but it was hard to disentangle the anti-war protests from those protesting racial injustice.   The nightly news was a litany of chaos and destruction, yet there again, growing up on eastern Long Island my neighbors and i were insulated by distance from the major riots and unrest. 
      What is missing now from the equation is the calming voices of civil rights leaders and leadership from the president*.    No one voice is speaking in righteous tones of Martin Luther King to advocate for nonviolent protests, so hard core activists and opportunists turn legitimate outrage into violent confrontation.   Meanwhile, the man who still feels the "Central Park Five" should have been executed not only has not empathy for his black and brown countrymen, but in a tweetstorm of rage suggested "after the looting starts, the shooting starts".
      In many ways, we've come a long way from 1967, yet the old wounds still bleed when fresh evidence of white supremacy is rubbed in our faces.   Most of us want to believe that racial justice is possible, but we must have the fortitude to demand it and to vote for it in November.   Surely it will be denied if we don't.