I would normally be writing about last night’s opening for my show and thanking those folks that came out. But that wasn’t meant to be this year so I am back in the studio this morning. And that’s just fine. With everything that’s going on, with the protests and marches for equal justice and the ugly response to them that only seems to justify the need to protest, I just want to get back to work this morning, to return to the inner world as soon as I can.
It’ll be a short trip but it’s one I need right now. Just a little while in that place makes this place seem a bit more tolerable. Makes me think this might actually be a time of change for this country.
And that’s as it should be. After all, this is a country that is always pushing forward to be better. So why should anyone want to remain stagnant and in the same spot when there is clear evidence of injustice and inequality between the races and economic classes of this country? Why would anyone not want police that treated everyone with equal fairness and justice? Why would anyone not want their fellow countrymen to have the same opportunities and treatment, to be treated fairly and without bias?
After all, aren’t we all better off when all of us are doing well? A lot of us like to wave the flag and yell that we’re the greatest nation on the planet. That’s all good and fine but until we address the great inequities of this country, that is not the case and will never come to be.
So long as anyone suffers injustice, unequal treatment and unequal opportunity, we will still be far less than the nation to which we aspire.
Like the song below from the late great Solomon Burke, accompanied here by the fabled Blind Boys of Alabama, says: so long as one us is chained, none of us are free.
That is the truth.
Be kind and try to envision changes for the better. If we can see it, we can be it.
Have a good day.
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Redtree Times 