Day 1 of #Vanlife

I don’t even know where to start this post. There has been so much in the last two weeks. Of course I’ve been talking about the pandemic which is still going on full force. On that front over the last couple weeks there has been some hints of normalcy returning. Many counties in Washington are entering phase 2 of reopening. Basically means places can open up at limited capacity. Most of the small rural counties went first which makes sense. King and Pierce are the biggest and of course the two I spend the most time in. As of today Pierce has applied for phase 2 so maybe this week it’ll start opening back up. It’s both exciting and concerning to see things slowly return to normal. On the one hand it’s showing that we are getting a handle on the virus but on the other this could also lead to a second wave potentially even worse. If history truly repeats itself than we should be worried and hold our excitement.

I wish the pandemic was the worst thing I had to write about but sadly it doesn’t even compare to what the last week has been through. A man named George Floyd, a black man, in Minnesota was killed by a police officer. The officer had his knee pressed to the back of George’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, he died right there underneath the officers knee in the street while three other officers stood around and did nothing. The whole thing happened in the middle of the street with people waking by, people were recording and yelling to check on him. It was one of the worst things I ever watched. Truly disgusting. Over my life I’ve seen many unarmed black people killed by the police on the news. It’s fucked that I can write that. There’s no excuse for any of them but especially not for George. Most of the others were shot, which doesn’t make it any better, but being strangled in the street just hits different. He was handcuffed and on his stomach. There was no reason for it to happen.  This spark protests, rightfully so, and these protests have grown everyday since it happened. I believe today is one week since he was killed. These protests are happening in nearly every major city in America. It’s amazingly powerful to see. Sadly however some of these protests are turning violent and becoming riots with lots of looting happening. From what I’ve seen and read, the property damage and looting is being done mostly by white males. Which is infuriating, they are trying to undermine the protesters and the cause they are working hard for. As for the violence, again from what I’ve seen and read from people physically there protesting, the protests are peaceful but the police are attacking first. Whether it’s firing rubber bullets, pepper spray or tear gas. It’s horrifying to see. Even members of the media just reporting the events are getting attacked without warning or reason. Trump hasn’t been any help not surprisingly, his answer is more force and violence. He is sending active military to states to “dominate the streets”. All this racism and police brutality is nothing new to America. Everything right now happened in the 90s too from what I read. And clearly nothing was fixed. America is so fucked up. There is so much deep seeded hatred and racism imbedded in its history. Imbedded into the systems and institutes that run our lives. How do we fix it? People always say voting is the best way. I wish there was more. I wish people were more educated on the history and where it comes from and why all this happens. I keep hearing people say things like “I’m glad the protests are bringing awareness” but like awareness ain’t doing shit. We all know it’s there, it’s been there for 100s of years. We need more than awareness. But idk what the answer is but I do know it can’t be more of the same. I’m really proud of my friends, James and Chey protested in Pullman. Austin was in Bellevue doing it. And I’ve seen a lot of people I know on social media getting out there. Ok and also I’ve seen so many companies posting about being against racism and supporting the protesters which is great but this shit happens almost everyday. This won’t change if it’s only brought up every once in awhile when something really bad happens. I need to educate myself more, I’ve seen a lot of people sharing books and movies that help depict what people of color go through and how to actually help. There is so much bad in this country right now. I hope that whoever reads this, whenever it is, reads about George Floyd and does everything they can to never let this happen again.

I usually end on some van notes. I won’t this week, it feels wrong. Just a quick life update. Yes I’m in the van now. All moved out. No it’s not how I planned or thought it would be because of the state of the country. High hopes for the future though.