On Friday evening, I learned about the police killing of a young 23 year old man named Elijah McClain in the USA.  I read Elijah’s last words and the details of the attack.  It was so horrendous, so unjustified, so evil.  And of course, as we see all the time, the perpetrators were not challenged.  There were no investigations, no arrests.  In fact, the officers continued to work.  They brutally extinguished the life of a young, sweet, innocent, vibrant man and there were no repercussions.  This broke my heart.

This morning, while scrolling on my phone in a sleepy haze, I saw another face, another name of someone needlessly murdered by the police.  There’s a long line of victims.  A long line of injustice.

While I was thinking about Elijah, the expression ‘By and By’ popped into my head.  I probably first heard it from an old hymn when I was young.  The expression resonated with me but I wasn’t entirely clear on what it signified.  So I looked it up.  By and by = before long / eventually.  I thought about my ancestors, who hoped, prayed and believed that their pain and suffering would end by and by.  It saddened me and if I’m honest angered me, that he haven’t seen the changes yet.  I don’t really want to hear by and by anymore.  I’ve got to the stage where enough is enough.  We need real, structural, systemic change.  But I know that’s probably going to take time.  I hope we can keep the pressure on and make lasting changes to the legal system, the police, education, the workplace and peoples’ hearts and minds.  By and by – please come soon.  I’m sick of hearing about my brothers and sisters dying at the hands of racist systems and people.