If you weren’t mad, it used to be said, partially in jest, you must not be paying attention. These days, it’s no longer a joke.
This past week was lightyears beyond rough. Lost in all the din, the United States quietly exceeded 100,000 COVID-related deaths and 40 million first-time unemployment applications. What kind of a din can drown out numbers like that?
Turns out the death of a guy named George Floyd and the Minneapolis cops who killed him almost a week ago. Floyd’s murder highlights — yet again — the extent to which we’re still rowing in very different boats, even if we’re all floundering together in the same hot water. Among Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe.”