I drove a loop this morning through Uptown, Longfellow, Powderhorn, Downtown, Loring Park, Whittier and Lyn-Lake neighborhoods.

Startling to happen upon remnants of fires still smoldering, buildings that are just a shell of their former selves, often not even taped off as hazardous sites. There must be too many all at once, I imagine, to get to them all and cordon them off. There are pockets of destruction scattered throughout the city. My first impulse was to cry. The devastation in some areas is unfathomable. But then in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood when I parked to walk around, there were so many people on the streets, showing up with shovels, brooms, heavy gloves, trash bags. In pairs, small groups, big groups, and alone. People are just showing up and cleaning whatever they see that needs cleaning.

“...until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

May there by justice for George Floyd. May his family feel the love of our community and our heartbrokenness at his senseless killing. May our community be able express in peaceful protest our outrage over Mr. Floyd's death. May the broken systems of oppression and inequality that need fixing once and for all, be fixed once and for all. Is that too much to hope for?