justifying Oscar Grant’s murder

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What did you lose, when Oscar Grant was shot?

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You decide.

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it just is

It just is……….. a terrible cluster of mistakes

It just is……….. another example of racism, police brutality, etc

It just is……….. another symptom of a horrible system

It just is……….. something terrible, tragic, outrageous

It just is……….. the consequences of such and such

It just is……….. something that happened far away from my concerns

It just is……….. the way life is, etc, etc, etc.

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If you stop there

if you stop

at “It just is……..”

and turn away,

you  give your unwitting support

to whatever you think

it just is.

You, are just-(is)-ifying the status quo

and helping nail it into place.

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This terrible loss has happened to people I do not know, in a place I will most likely never be in. But like millions of people around the world it has  affected me and caused me grief. What can a compassionate person do with this grief?  I say, whatever you can to change the way things are.

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I choose to  honor the life of Oscar Grant and grieve with his family for it’s loss.

I choose to honor the life of Oscar Grant enough to be outraged at how it was lost.

I choose to honor the memory of Oscar Grant enough to add this grief to that which I already feel from the devaluation of life everywhere on this planet.

I chose to add it as more fuel to my efforts to change this world as fast as I possibly can so events like these disappear like the nightmare that they are.

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“It just is……” an opportunity,

for you to change the world too,

by allowing yourself to be moved,

past the blockages of what is,

the status quo,

to what could be………