There’s a saying in Jamaica:
Every day bucket go to well, one day the bottom will drop put.
That saying comes to mind as I watch the protests on TV and hear the newscasts about that tragedy in Dallas, the shooting of black men by police and the other signals of a failing society.
Has the bottom “dropped out” at last? Has America’s minority population been pushed beyond the limit of their endurance?
How long will black, Asian and Hispanic Americans tolerate the abuses they are expected to accept as “just the way it is”?
Unemployment at two or three times the national average. Racial profiling. An abusive criminal justice system. Voter suppression. Generations of broken promises. Even death at the hands of those asssigned to protect society.
The centuries pass, and progress toward social justice is painfully slow. Every glimmer of hope seems to be countered by a dark cloud of despair.
Even with a black family in the White House.
America’s minorities have been subjected to intolerable conditions for such a long time. One day, they will have had enough.
I wonder whether that time has come. I pray it has not.
But, surely, the powers that be must see what I see?
Surely, they must see how fragile things are? Surely, they nust realize that reform is long overdue?
Sadly, I see no evidence of an awakening among the elite.
As the protesters gather in America’s streets and the racial divide widens daily, the clock is ticking.
