How quickly things can change in a week. It now seems trivial for me to hold forth on the fine points of art and architecture after we've seen a handcuffed black man oh-so-casually put to death before our eyes. One would not treat a dog lying in the street the way police officers treated George Floyd.
Like most white people, I was raised to respect the police who, for whatever reason, are willing to do a job most of us sure as hell wouldn't want to do. But there is a clear bottom line of human decency in how we treat our fellow man, and again and again they have crossed it.
Further amplifying this tragedy is a president who now seems even more determined to make hatred the coin of the realm. A man so self-absorbed he thinks nothing of having peaceful protesters tear gassed in order to stage a campaign photo of himself holding a Bible.
I've already made my feelings about Mr. Trump abundantly clear in other essays and won't start in again here. I would only say this: Up until this January, we've all been incredibly lucky this president hasn't had to deal with an actual crisis. Now that we've got three of them at once, he is liable to get Americans—and I mean all Americans—into some real trouble.
I'll return with a regular architectural topic next week when, hopefully, we will have at least moved a few steps forward in what promises to be a long, long journey.
Like most white people, I was raised to respect the police who, for whatever reason, are willing to do a job most of us sure as hell wouldn't want to do. But there is a clear bottom line of human decency in how we treat our fellow man, and again and again they have crossed it.
Further amplifying this tragedy is a president who now seems even more determined to make hatred the coin of the realm. A man so self-absorbed he thinks nothing of having peaceful protesters tear gassed in order to stage a campaign photo of himself holding a Bible.
I've already made my feelings about Mr. Trump abundantly clear in other essays and won't start in again here. I would only say this: Up until this January, we've all been incredibly lucky this president hasn't had to deal with an actual crisis. Now that we've got three of them at once, he is liable to get Americans—and I mean all Americans—into some real trouble.
I'll return with a regular architectural topic next week when, hopefully, we will have at least moved a few steps forward in what promises to be a long, long journey.
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