Dear Friends,

I’ve tried not to use my position as county chair to stand on my soapbox and preach, however, as we’ve watched the events of the last 2 weeks I feel compelled to write. It’s important to remember that the murder of George Floyd is not some random action by a rogue police officer, but an act in keeping with 400 years of history. It was simply the most visible manifestation of the reality our African American brothers and sisters live with every day. That officer was doing his duty to protect white privilege and the status quo. He was acting as 45 has urged.

I’ve heard this said many times over the last week, but it always bears repeating. This is not a black problem – this is a white problem. The African American community cannot solve this, and they cannot educate us if we refuse to learn. We have an enormous wealth gap, a housing gap, a vastly disproportionate number of incarcerated people of color, a tremendous gap in the outcomes from Covid 19 infections because of the huge gap in the quality of health care our African American community receives, and on and on. It is up to us in the white community to find ways to change this. 

As someone who comes from the Jewish community, I’m steeped in that history. At the end of every book I’ve read on the Holocaust I’m reminded of the phrase “never again.” When I see what happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castillo, Sandra Bland, Emmit Till, and I think of the pictures of picnicking crowds under the body of a lynched black man, in my heart I say, never again. But I recognize as never before that holding that in my heart is not enough. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with our African American brothers and sisters and insist that the time for equality is now. True equality, in wealth, housing, health care, education, police interactions, and every other place we see discrimination.  We cannot ask our African American friends to vote with us if we don’t stand up for their community. There is no more time to wait.

(By Larry Stopper, chairman, NCDC)