Imagine
You are at work and you get a phone call from your 15 year old child.
“Mommy they let us out of school but there are no buses to get home. Police in riot gear are at the bus stop yelling that we need to leave. Where do I go Mommy? I’m scared.”
Imagine.
You are sitting at your desk at work when you get this call.
Imagine
You tell your child to go back inside the school. “I am coming to get you. Go inside the school and wait for me.”
Imagine
You tell your boss you have to leave. You gather your things. You run to the car that you are lucky enough to own when your phone rings again.
“Mommy the school won’t let me back inside. I don’t know what to do.”
Imagine
As your child cries on the phone your mind races.
“Find a store. Go in the mall. Go somewhere safe. Somewhere inside.”
Imagine
As you race towards the school your phone rings twice more with your child detailing the places she has been denied entrance. In the background you hear cops screaming, kids screaming and the sickening thud of things banging.
Imagine
When you get to the area of your child’s school you can not drive in. Streets are closed to traffic. So you park illegally and run the blocks to your child, huddled against a building with 4 of her friends. As you walk them out of the danger zone you see kids with no adult presence for them. You see cops in full riot gear. You hear helicopters. You see a kid throw a rock. You see cops throw rocks back at kids. You are stopped by a cop who wants to know where you are going with these kids.
Imagine.
You finally get home. You turn on the TV to see that the situation devolved in to the mayhem you knew that it would. The children are being vilified and no one is even interested in the truth.
Imagine.
Now open your eyes to reality. THIS HAPPENED! our country. This is what happened in Baltimore. This land is your land. This is the genesis of the “riot” that burned that beloved (sarcasm) CVS to the ground. (May it rest in peace)
This is what greeted 13 to 18 year olds who had planned a peaceful after school protest. THIS!
If you are not actively doing something to help you are part of the problem. Your involvement can run the spectrum from sharing truth with the misinformed to marching to letter writing to activism. Spread truth. Refuse to be steamrolled by propaganda. This is OUR country. Wake up.
Baltimore uprising.
Justice for Freddie
HRHDana 
That was intense…. Thank you sharing this piece.