#JusticeForLauren: The Police Still Don’t Care

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have escalated to never before seen levels as Russian military drills take place at the border of their former Soviet satellite. The questions that many in the black community have asked ourselves as this situation has escalated is simply; how does this impact me and my loved ones? Will they make our children fight in yet another European war? Is this how World War 3 begins?
Well, there’s very few solid answers that wouldn’t require fear mongering or misrepresenting the facts of the matter. The fact of the matter is that American intelligence and world news centers around the globe are reporting threats against liberty and plots undermining democracy immonating from Moscow. These reports may very well be true.
And yet in this period of time, I feel as if we have to ask ourselves some important questions about where we hope to be at the end of a potential conflict.
I understand democracy and the necessary role that it serves the free world, and the role that America plays on the world stage as the first democratic world super power.
I also understand the plight of people of Ukraine who are willing to fight for their independence and right to build a democracy of their own; their fight for freedom. How could I not, being born into a world where the fight for freedom is a cultural birthright.
From my point of view however, the most important aspect of freedom is the ability to choose and make decisions, not just for ourselves, but for our nation. As a black man who’s very aware of atrocities that this country has done and is still doing, it’s the only place that I can call home. And as a human, if it came down to it, I’d protect my home from those who would see it destroyed.
More than anything else though, I understand the contradictions; of what we’re told to believe, and what we’re told to do by those in power. If we March more troops into Europe, and Ukraine falls anyway, then what? We’re told that life is sacred and that the promise of peace in our time is paramount, and yet we’d return death and fire tenfold upon an enemy if it meant proper retribution. Again I ask: to what end are we sending our sons and daughters to go make war?
Perhaps there is no alternative, and black men and women will have to continue to fight for a better life and status quo on battlefields for all of existence, both at home and abroad. Maybe because of what it takes to establish peace in a world of generational hatred, understanding and cooperation are contradictions within themselves . Maybe war is the only thing that humans as societies and cultures will ever perfect, and destruction at the hands of other men is how the story of humanity is destined to end.
It doesn’t matter who orchestrated what and who wanted peace; it’s about the end result and the deaths that will occur. The cause of the Ukrainian people is indeed just, but are we content with having a continual world at war, as long as that war itself is justified