January 1, 2020

 

Part ONE. (Trigger Warning)

 

Strap in kiddies, this will be one of my long posts.

As many of you know - ———— and I are huge proponents of 'The Burn List' the annual burning on NYE of the list of things we're releasing as we move into a New Year. As such - in the spirit of vulnerability and transparency and growth, ———— and I felt that now is the appropriate time to share an important moment in our shared story.

 

 

That is the opening of the FaceBook post when the interracial family of our Season Two: Nobody’s Perfect, spoke publicly for the very first time; expressing the horrendous and unjust realities they endured over 3 years after their husband & father was involved in a fatal traffic accident in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2017. That night, an innocent black man was wrongfully accused of murder and ultimately was forced to take an Alford plea for a crime he did not commit because of the way the system is stacked against people of color. Despite exculpatory evidence, errors in the police report, and critically missing evidence, this man did 118 days in county jail because of other people’s mistakes. In the process, his wife, and our co-host, uncovered an ugly truth and dark history of racism and civil rights abuses in the city of Pasadena that had long been swept under the rug.

 

In this season we delve into the criminal courts & the exceedingly dangerous and powerful infrastructures that allow ineptitude and corruption to flourish with impunity. We examine how bias in policing can cost a family their entire lives and that the insidious nature of systemic racism can be just as damaging as the highly publicized fatal interactions with police.

 

And still, they rise again.

 

Stay tuned to hear their story, examine the scientific evidence for yourself, & to be inspired into action by the unbelievable resilience these family members embody to shape a more beautiful future for us all.

 

 

In 1853, abolitionist minister Theodore Parker gave a sermon that later formed the basis for one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s inspirational quotes:

 

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

 

This is something that I held onto during the dark days when it seemed that humankind was too corrupt to allow for spiritual law.