Jacob Blake’s mother Julia Jackson: ‘We really just need prayers. As I was riding through here through the city I noticed a lot of damage, it doesn’t reflect my son or my family. If Jacob knew what was going on as far as that goes, the violence and the destruction, he would be very unpleased. So I’m really asking and encouraging everyone in Wisconsin and abroad to take a moment and examine your hearts. Citizens, police officers, firemen, clergy, politicians: Do Jacob justice on this level and examine your hearts. We need healing. As I pray for my son’s healing—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—I also have been praying even before this for the healing of our country. God has placed each and every one of us in this country because he wanted us to be here. Clearly you can see by now that I have beautiful brown skin, but take a look at your hand and what ever shade it is, it is beautiful as well. How dare we hate what we are? We are humans. God did not make one type of tree or flower or fish or horse or grass or rock. How dare you ask him to make one type of human that looks just like you. I’m not talking to just caucasian people, I am talking to everyone. White, Black, Japanese, Chinese, red, brown. No one is superior to the other. The only supreme being is God himself. Please let’s begin to pray for healing for our nation. We are the United States, have we been united? Do you understand what’s going to happen when we fall because a house that’s against each other cannot stand. To all of the police officers, I’m praying for you and your families. To all of the citizens, my Black and brown sisters and brothers, I’m praying for you. I believe that you are an intelligent being just like the rest of us. Everybody, let’s use our hearts, our love, and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other. America is great when we behave greatly. Thank you.’
Though the state of Arizona is now among the globe’s hotspots for COVID-19, the most dire and long-lasting outbreak in the state is on the Navajo Nation, a vast reservation mostly sitting in the northeast corner of the state. Nearly five percent of the tribal population has tested positive for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and the outcomes for indigenous people have been ugly, as a result of comorbidities among many Navajo people that match up with the most dire pre-existing conditions for COVID patients, including hypertension and diabetes. Navajo Nation’s case fatality rate was nearly five percent as of June 27, more than five times the national average.
If you had asked people in Belarus how long the dictatorship of Lukashenko has left in early 2020, they would have looked at you like a fool. In a respected dictatorship, such questions are not asked, because you know what can happen. And in general, it so happens that the reign of the great leader is timeless. But the situation has changed so radically over the last eight months that Belarusians took to the streets and for the first time in the contemporary history of Belarus they fought back the police in at least 33 different cities of the country.
