Chauvin is guilty

The very lowest possible bar has been met. This is not justice, not accountability. This is pacification. They threw one guy under the bus to make the point that he was just one bad apple. The whole orchard is a toxic waste dump.

A fiery Black comrade said this on Facebook tonight: "As the Derek Chauvin verdict was being read, a 15 year old African girl, Makiyah Bryant, was shot 4 times in the chest by police in Colombus, Ohio and killed. She was the one that called them for help.

"Understand it is not cynicism that makes us reject EVERY CRUMB slid across the table to us by this system. It is LOVE. The Derek Chauvin verdict means nothing. It is not justice. It is not accountability. It is not a 'small step' in the right direction. It is PACIFICATION while murders continue unchecked. The killing is not going to stop until our communities are organized to stop it."

I say yes to that. Another comrade adds: "Police violence will only end when we have ended policing and built new systems of community safety. And we will." I love that optimism.

I don't know if you see anything in the shadows on the sidewalk. I might be losing my mind.

I am deeply moved by your response to the Bella portrait. Thank you, thank you, thank you.