Tranquility
June 8,
2020
Meredith
Tranquility
It has
been a tough year, watching the news has been one horrible news cycle after
another with the current focus being on two weeks of social unrest due to the
inequality of justice in our nation that was once again brought to the
forefront with the video of the tragic death of a black man named George Floyd
at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The incident brought forth a
torrent of pent up anger and resentment among the black community that has
spread into what is hopefully a full scale movement that hopefully will bring
actual change.
Meredith and Kathy
It hasn’t
been smooth or easy and scenes of social unrest have dominated the news cycle
in the past two weeks as protests have been held in communities across the
country that have pushed the daily dose of pandemic news from the airwaves
almost completely in spite of the fact that the covid-19 coronavirus seems to
be continuing and is in fact increasing in many places including here in
Florida where this week has seen the highest daily total of new cases three
times just this week.
It
figures that the cases would be increasing as the sanctions and restrictions as
far as social isolation have started to come down and stop all together in some
places and social distancing, mask wearing and closed businesses seem a thing
of the past as the rush to reopen and restart the stalled economy has happened.
The Florida Keys opened for business on June 1st and after a long
period of hardly any new cases, suddenly we have had three new cases in the
past two days. The totals for Monroe County are currently at 114 confirmed
cases, with 44 of those being in Key West and the number of deaths rising by 1
to 4.
The
United States case total is currently 2,018,228 confirmed cases with 112,823
deaths, still climbing at an alarming rate and still in what many consider to
be the first wave of what could possibly be multiple waves of virus based on
the history of previous pandemics. You would not know it based on the
resumption of activity here in Key West as the gates have opened, hotels are
filling up and it is back to mostly business as usual for many of the bars and
restaurants in town.
Kathy and
I have continued to maintain a low profile, keeping within the CDC standards as
far as wearing protective masks and not going out and only having small managed
gatherings that limit the risk factor. We are in no rush to head out to bars
and restaurants, choosing to take a wait and see attitude before rushing out
and potentially exposing ourselves.
This
doesn’t mean we are living like the hermits we were for the better part of the
last two months. We have tried to get out and do low risk but rewarding
activities when we can. One of the things we wanted to do was to visit the Key
West Butterfly and Nature Conservancy which is one of the Key West attractions
that reopened to the public this week.
The last
time I was there was a few months ago with my sister and mother while they were
visiting Key West and it was so crowded that you could barely navigate the
place. I figured that since it was just reopening and that the island is not
back to full capacity, we could visit with very limited people there. We went
early in the week but turned away when we saw that there was actually a long
line waiting to get in.
I
returned alone a couple of days later, just after they first opened and was
able to go in and be in there with only a few other tourists and was able to
enjoy the place pretty much on my own and it was just a tranquil, quiet,
beautiful escape from the current situation in the world today. This week has been one that has featured the
return of the summer rainy season and there have been rain and storms just about
every day. After months of drought like conditions it is nice to get the rain,
but it has limited outside activities.
We have
also had the opportunity to have our friend Meredith visit our house for a
couple of days this week, Kathy has been looking after Meredith since she was a
baby and she is now nearing the age of six and having her spend the day at our
house has been a fun diversion. She enjoys playing with Jack, swimming in our
new pool and just hanging out with Kathy.
Black Lives Matter
June 7,
2020
Black
Lives Matter
The
Corona Virus pandemic, while still going full force, has been all but forgotten
in the past two weeks as racial tensions, protests, demonstrations and even
some rioting and looting have spread to virtually every city and many
communities around the United States and even around the world in the wake of the
violent death of a black man, George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police
officer. The officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck during an arrest and left
it there for almost nine minutes while Floyd pleaded for him to stop as he was
unable to breathe.
Three
other Minneapolis police officers stood by and did nothing as the life ebbed
from Mr. Floyd’s body. While the entire episode was caught on video, it took
more than a week before any charges were brought against any of the officers
and the outcry for equal justice spread into the nightly worldwide protests as
the death of Mr. Floyd was the final straw for many in what has been a litany
of miscarriages of justice against the black community going back literally
decades.
In spite
of the warnings and peril of large gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
millions of protesters have gathered in almost every major city in America. The
virus has continued to infect people at an alarming rate, with cases in Florida
growing at the fastest rate since the virus started. In the United States there
have been 1,908,313 confirmed cases with tragically 109,399 deaths. Here
locally, the numbers are at 111 confirmed cases, 42 of those being in Key West
and still holding at 3 deaths here.
Kathy
People
feel so strongly about the current crisis that they are willing to risk
contamination by the virus by gathering in large groups, which we can hardly
blame them. Night after night there has been non-stop media coverage of the
myriad of protests, some of which have turned violent. The problem with the
coverage is that they tend to focus on the extremes with extensive coverage of
every example of police over-aggression, protesters and agitators and any crime
being committed.
Key West Police Chief Brandenburg
Sheriff Ramsey
Sadly
many criminals have taken advantage of the situation to commit crimes such as
looting and stir up violence under the guise of being protesters, at the same
time some police, national guard and officials have behaved terribly, attacking
protesters, even peaceful ones with a vengeance. The focus always seem to be on
these extremes, which certainly deserve attention but are only a portion of
what is really happening which I believe is a much needed large scale movement
that is demanding positive change.
The
situation has been inflamed by the President who has fanned the flames of hate
and come out in favor of crushing the protests violently if necessary. It has
raised tensions and added a level of anger to an already volatile situation.
Thankfully it really feels like the tide may have turned this time. I certainly
hope so as there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground and there seems to be a
wave of momentum to effect real change. The protests have been continuing,
spreading and gaining strength in the two weeks since Floyd’s death.
Key West,
like many communities has joined the ever expanding chorus of voices raised in
anger and demanding change. A local protest was organized and Kathy and I went
to show our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Unlike many similar
gatherings across the country, the Key West protest, demonstration and march
was entirely peaceful. The protest featured a gathering in Bahama Village near
the Martin Luther King Jr, center and featured speeches by local officials
including the mayor of Key West, county mayor, Key West police chief and Monroe
County Sheriff along with local organizers and members of the black community.
Key West Mayor
There was
a really good turnout and the event went off without much of a hitch with the
exception of a single man who shouted racial slurs and heckled the crowd from
the parade route. That was not enough to damper the enthusiasm of those
participating and the genuine concern and outrage of the people who feel that
the time has come to address the many issues of inequality and racial animus
that stains our country.
Of course these sort of protests have happened over the
course of our history, certainly many in my lifetime and the very fact that we
still need so much to be done in itself shows that we have a long, long way to
go, but I feel somewhat hopeful that maybe, just maybe this is the start of a
movement that will see actual results.
I hope my
photos help capture a little of the spirit of the Key West event, but I have
included some of the fantastic black and white photos taken by my friend Mark
Hedden, they really convey the varied emotions, hopes and anger and outrage of
the Key West crowd.
