The way things are is not the way they should be.

Today, the world is too sharp. It has so many corners and it has been broken in so many places. I read the news and I am cut.

The news is on fire today (the way it likes to be). There are riots in Baltimore and everyone wants to offer their opinion, their commmentary on what is happening, their  criticicism on whether or not black man, rioter, or police man has reacted with the proper decorum. And somehow we just forget that a man died because of abuse while in police custody. I only care about his race as secondary issue. First, I care that he died a needless death. Sure, he had a history of breaking the law. But since when does dealing drugs warrant a death sentence? Does it bar you from justice? Does it make you less human? Do we get to throw stones?

When I lie, do I relinquish my right to live? When someone cheats on their wife, do they become an animal instead of human being? Do we get to kill whoever is not perfect? If we do, do we get to escape the consequences of that? Explain to me why Gray's past makes it ok for him to die. But the police's actions are not worth responding to? Sure, there may be a "right way" to respond. But I would warn you that it is more important to make sure that you respond to injustice than that you spend too much time metering out exactly how it should be done in the halls of bureaucracy. We all forget so quickly when it is not our injustice. If the protests were here in Portland, I would be there. There is not very much separating Gray from a number of my neighbors and friends.

Police brutality makes the lives of good policemen more dangerous and more difficult. This is not just about black people but about what kind of world do we want to live in. Is justice a luxury or a human right?