I can’t breathe

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This spring, it has been nearly impossible to catch one’s breath.

COVID-19, and the devastating toll on so many people, and, in my hometown of New York and here in Chicago, the outsized impact on vulnerable black and brown people.

The economic crisis, and the ever-widening disparities this nation seems blind to.

The isolationist and zenophobic rhetoric of our politicians, for whom the solution to every problem seems to be to blame other peoples, and build higher walls.

The torturously slow and preventable death of George Floyd, and the hubris of the officers involved, who believed that despite the witnesses to their callousness, they need only file a false report to escape responsibility.

The burning of our cities.

Yesterday, before violence erupted, the protests were peaceful and inspiring. Hundreds of cars drove honking through the streets, and we recognized that only when we come together will we make a change.