The American and Global Reality We Live In

This week I was planning to post about the different flavored pickles I have been making with my friends based on the Tiktok trend. Or I could have shared about the baked mac and cheese that I made or the brunch we cooked. I wanted to share the blast I have been having in college. But it does not feel right yet again. How many times have I said that to myself week after week? How many times have I had to pause my joy in life just to post another plea for justice and change in America? It is getting out of hand and I am tired of it; but the sad reality is that it is not going to change anytime soon. And that is evident with the killing of Amir Locke as well as the NFL’s racist hiring practices.

To be honest, my mental state has not been great for a little while now. We are living in a country where people are getting killed for no good reason; We are living in a country where people have to live in fear everyday. This is not the America I want to be in and I have said that many times. But here we are yet again. And here I am pleading for justice once again.

First and foremost, no knock warrants need to be banned immediately. The nation already witnessed and mourned the loss of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020. We already saw a push to ban them which did not come to fruition. As a result, we had to watch another killing due to a no knock warrant, this time in Minneapolis, where we witnessed the death of George Floyd. You would have thought they would have learned but I guess not. I guess we still have to keep fighting.

I can go into the case details all I want about how the cops were trying to find the person who killed someone and as a result entered the apartment where Amir Locke was sleeping. I can go into the details about how they were scared when they saw Amir with a gun (that he legally owned to protect himself from this very scenario) so had to make a split second decision. And I can go into details about how a few weeks ago, Amir’s mom had a conversation with him about how to be careful around police so as to not get shot. She urged him to not have that gun as she thought it would make him more vulnerable. But I will not go into these details. Why? Because they are not important to this story. What is important to this story is that we need to ban no knock warrants. What is important to this story is that we cannot give up in our fight for justice. That is the key here. We need justice for Amir Locke and all the other people killed in senseless acts like these.

What also has bothered me this week is the NFL and their hiring practices. As of today, there are only two black coaches in the NFL. After the record amount of head coach openings they had this season this number should have gone way up. But instead it stayed stagnant. Practically all the coaching jobs went to white coaches. This is not what should be happening in a league that has 70% Black players.

The Rooney rule was implemented to help create equality in the hiring practices in the NFL; it has done the exact opposite. It has mandated teams to do interviews with Black candidates they do not want to interview. In fact they have even done these interviews with no intent of hiring the coach but just to satisfy the rule. The Brian Flores lawsuit against the NFL, Giants, Dolphins, and Broncos is a great example of this. He was fired by the Dolphins because of his refusal to tank and then not hired by the Giants because of a last minute interview, due to the Rooney rule, that did not matter. He says that he was interviewed after they had already chosen their head coach. I stand by Brian Flores and his lawsuit. I stand by his pursuit of justice.

So what has the NFL done to try to solve this? Well, in classic Rodger Goodell fashion, he decided to reach out to Robert Smith to buy the Denver Broncos. Smith is one of the richest Black men in America and Goodell thinks that by having him purchase the Broncos, all the NFL’s problems with equity will be solved. He could not be more from the truth. Until we see actual changes to the NFL, from hiring Black coaches to not blackballing players like Colin Kaepernick, I won’t believe the NFL. And it is sad for me to do that because I love the sport itself.

Also, I am heartbroken by the crisis occurring in Ukraine. What Russia is doing is absolutely wrong and is an assault on democracy. The sad thing is that a lot of Russians are against it yet are not being heard; it is only the power hungry leaders who are making this occur. I truly feel for the people there and want peace as soon as possible; if this escalates any further it will be bad news for the whole world.

In order to solve this crisis in Ukraine, the whole world needs to unite and stand against Vladimir Putin which we are doing. It has truly been inspiring to see Russians protesting around the major cities, and major sports figures protesting. Take Vladyslav Heraskevych’s, a Skeleton participant in the 2022 Olympics from Ukraine, who held up a sign after his race that read: No War In Ukraine. He did this knowing well that he could get disqualified from the olympics (he ultimately was not as the committee appreciated his bravery). Another athlete, Andrey Rublev, a Russian Tennis star, also protested after his match by writing No War Please on the lens of a TV camera. This just showcases the support Ukraine has. But it is going to take all of us to truly make changes.

While I conclude this with a heavy heart, I want to make sure that we keep our heads up. Yes most of this news everyday is stuff we are tired of hearing and quite frankly do not want to hear. But at the same time, the more we write about it and talk about it, the more people will learn. If we keep talking about it and demanding changes, we will get good results as we will not be able to be ignored. That is what we need to strive for. So enough with the heavy stuff. Go out and have a great week.

with gratitude — ChefWalker out 😁✌🏻