DETROIT _ How did we get here in America? How did we become so divided along so many lines � racial, cultural, political, socio-economic, religious?
The honest response: We've always been here.
That's the dispiriting reality after one of the saddest weeks in American history. It began last Monday with the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis, his final breaths squeezed out by a despicable man masquerading as a police officer, captured in a nine-minute video in which Floyd desperately narrated his own death, ending with, "Please, I can't breathe."
Three other white cops stood around as bystanders pleaded, while wielding the most-reliable vehicle of justice, the cell phone camera. Only one officer has been arrested, and that was after nights of protest in Minneapolis, which sparked demonstrations and riots in almost every major city in the country, including Detroit.
That's what started it this time, which came shortly after the last time, the shooting death of black Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery by two white men, or the time before that, or before that. Or the next time.
If we acknowledge a nation that began with slavery and has spent 200 years slowly, painfully trying to dilute (and sometimes deny) its effects, still has a long way to go, who will lead the way? Not our politicians, obviously. Not with the reckless rhetoric from the White House and the federal government, where distracting and labeling and blaming always take precedence. Not from the leaders in Minnesota, which has a sordid history of tepid response to police brutality.
Some narrow-minded nitwits once demanded athletes "stay in your lane," "shut up and dribble" and "stick to sports." Those sentiments are so outdated, they're even more laughable today. If you have a platform � and sports figures possess some of the most prominent � now would be the time to use it, in a responsible way.
While civil-rights laws, hate-crime prosecutions and hiring regulations have helped punish (although not prevent) racism, it very much remains an issue as personal as it is systemic. Justice often is viewed through the prism of color, through life's experiences.
Even the most famous and wealthy black people experience it, and it's important they talk about it, plainly and passionately. White celebrities should be heard too, and many in sports are speaking, from J.J. Watt to Joe Burrow to Carson Wentz. Sports are idled right now, but voices aren't. Those alleged sacred lanes and lines that can't be crossed? Words intended to be insightful, not inciting, can help.
