I woke up this morning pondering my own mortality. (As far as I know, I am perfectly healthy). But this is the gift of the pandemic \u2013 putting life in its most simple and most stark terms. And so I ponder\u2026<\/p>\n
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd repeatedly told police officers, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d This is not the first time a black man has died in police custody after saying, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d In 2014, Eric Garner told police eleven times, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d before he died, face down on the sidewalk in New York City. Over the past decade, at least 70 people have died in custody after saying the same words \u2014 \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d according to The New York Times<\/em> (Three Words. 70 Cases. The Tragic History of I Can\u2019t Breathe,\u201d June 29, 2020<\/a>). The majority of them were stopped for minor infractions, calls to 911 about suspicious behavior, or mental health concerns. More than half were black.<\/p>\n Police brutality is real. Systemic racism is real.<\/p>\n Lord, have mercy As a climate activist, I am sometimes asked to help people connect the dots between racism and climate change. I talk about air pollution, heat waves, rising sea levels, and vector borne illnesses like malaria and dengue fever and the disproportionate impact of each of these on people of color, poor people, and people in foreign countries. I talk about our extractive industries such as mining, logging, and fossil fuels, and the sacrifice zones associated with these industries. And by sacrifice zones, I mean places here and overseas where industries are forcing people to move off their land or exposing them to toxins or increased levels of crime and corruption. And in some cases, killing people because of their non-violent resistance to the extraction.<\/p>\n
\nChrist, have mercy
\nLord, have mercy<\/p>\n