July 10, 2020
Hello ,
The good news here, is that the city library has started curbside pick-up! I have missed the library so much!
I've bought some books since the covid shut down, and I've been listening to lots of audio books, but I have missed having a stack of books at hand. The only down side is the difficulty browsing the shelves, but I'm getting the hang of it.
If you have some good news, I'd love to hear it. How are you coping with the pandemic? I keep thinking the answer to everything is ice cream. I'm enjoying it, but I fear the long term repercussions.
And now, here's more on a couple stories I told you the last two weeks.
First, the heartbreaking story of 18-year-old Andres Guardaro, shot by a Los Angeles deputy as he was running away.
I first wrote about Andres here... and a few days later I spoke with my daughter who lives in Los Angeles. We were talking generally about the Black Lives Matter protests, and I asked if she had participated in any of them.
Turns out, she joined a march calling for justice for Andres!
It was the "Father's Day March Against Police and Sheriff Terrorism" held in Gardena, CA June 21st.
Monica graciously agreed to share her experience with us. Thanks to my daughter for the words below, and to Struggle - La Lucha for photos.
We marched with Andres' family and the families of many others who had loved ones ripped away by police brutality. Their signs told their stories.
The march began with a blessing from Aztec dancers and a speech from Andres' father. His father spoke only in Spanish, but the emcee was quick to translate. He asked us for a peaceful protest. He told us he was in pain and he understood we were angry, but today
was not the day for a fight.
We marched for justice and in solidarity for the fathers who had lost children and for children who had lost fathers. People handed out water, masks and sunscreen. Civilian cars blocked traffic on the cross streets and held signs through their windows.
Many cars whose trips had been disrupted by the march stopped to join the honking. For two hours, we shut down portions of West Redondo Blvd as we marched towards the Compton Police Station.
It was incredibly powerful to see the community come together to support the Guadardo family....Families walked together---children in strollers, babies strapped to their mothers' chest. Young people held signs---their fathers, their friends had been murdered. And people like me, who didn't know Andres, who didn't have a life disrupted by violence, came to support.
We didn't need a personal connection to be heartbroken. To make a stand. We shut down the streets and demanded justice, but most of all we stood together.
Thank you, Monica. Knowing you were there, sharing the grief of the Guardaro family made me feel like a piece of my heart was there, too.
Monica sent this very short video to give us a taste of the blessing from the Aztec dancers.
In the case of the 18-year-old security guard shot by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy in June, an independent autopsy this week shows Andres
Guadardo was shot five times in the back.
The Sheriff's department has refused to release the official medical examiners report in the case.
Andre's parents Elisa and Cristobal Guardado say the independent report confirms "what we have known all along, which is that Andres was unjustifiably killed....Our son did not deserve to die this way," they said in a statement. "Andres was a good boy, he was our son and he had so much life ahead of him."
The Guardaro family had come to Los Angeles fleeing war and violence in their own country, El Salvador.
Last week, I wrote about celebrating the Fourth of July with an awareness that we as a country have not lived up to our American ideals of freedom and justice for all.
Subscriber Cynthia Levinson wrote me about a particular story that illustrates the bitter irony of the United States Constitution, how it neither 'established justice' nor 'secured liberty.'
It could also be a story about one of the very first #BlackLivesMatter protests. Back in 1854.
A runaway slave Anthony Burns had made it safely to the free state of Massachusetts, but due to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, his master had the right to catch him and carry him back to slavery.
The enslaver tracked Anthony Burns to Boston and had him arrested. Abolitionists failed in an attempt to slip Burns from jail and sneak him to Canada. They tried to buy Burns' freedom, but the owner refused to sell.
The day Burns was shackled and shipped back to Virginia, some 50-thousand protestors lined the route to the town's wharf. Citizens hung black bunting and flew the American flag upside down in protest.
But the U.S. Constitution allowed for the buying and selling of men, women and children. A month later, a crowd gathered for the Fourth of July in Framingham, MA, but not to celebrate.
William Lloyd Garrison spoke to the issue at hand. “The Constitution of the United States of America is the source and parent of all other atrocities: ‘a covenant with death, and an agreement with Hell.’” Then he burned it.
Here's a highly recommended book with much more on this topic, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and The Flaws that Affect Us Today.
From the publisher:
Many of the political issues we struggle with today have their roots in the US Constitution.
Husband-and-wife team Cynthia and Sanford Levinson take readers back to the creation of this historic document and discuss how contemporary problems were first introduced—then they offer possible solutions.
Think Electoral College, gerrymandering, even the Senate. Many of us take these features in our system for granted.
But they came about through haggling in an overheated room in 1787, and we’re still experiencing the ramifications.
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