On a sunny May 26th, a church sits quietly on the side of Main Street. Four white women stand on the sidewalk, holding navy blue signs, the ones with big white letters and white stars.
They proudly hold up their signs and smile and wave to passing traffic. One woman gets distracted by a patch of dirt smeared across hers. She diligently wipes the neatly printed letters.
"Oh my God not you too. You actually believe in that? I'm not going to get sick. No, I'm not concerned at all. No, I'm not. No, we've done a great job. "
"The best for the economy. Actually, a tremendous tribute to equality. "
"Planned Parenthood just has to stop with the abortions. I think they were terrible, disgusting by any standpoint. And they have to stop. "
The white signs grow stale under the mid-afternoon sunlight.
"I think there's always bad apples, and I've seen things that I don't like. But we have to bring back law and order. "
After a couple hours the women's work was sufficient. One of them was getting too hot standing outside and decided to go home. The day had been exhausting. And she was a little bit of a drive from the bad part of town.
Soon, the SUV neatly pulls into a clean concrete driveway. The woman admires the petunias she just planted, and makes a mental note to pay the man to mow the lawn tomorrow.
Another large navy blue sign stands perfectly still in the middle of the flowers, clean with no dirt on it. It stands safe from all the homeless crazies on the street, far from the corrupted college students with the bright flags, protected from the naive parents who know nothing about the economy. The woman cheerfully checks the empty mailbox.
She locks the front door behind her. She makes sure the deadbolt is locked. She prepares dinner and calls her son down to eat. She thanks God for giving her the courage to speak up and turns to her son.
"Always trust in him," she says, as a reminder.
She is about to take her big bite of lasagna when she meets eyes with the T.V, and the black man they keep showing, and for a second is trapped in a gaze as hundreds of people flood the streets of Minneapolis.
No justice,
No peace.
No Justice,
No Peace.
No Justice
No
The screen goes black. The news is exhausting. She needs a break. People make such a big deal of things.