Hello.
My name is ____________ and I am calling to demand justice for James Scurlock. It is not the job of the County Attorney to defend a killer. Let Scurlock’s killer defend himself in court before a jury. Please relay this message to the County Attorney/Mayor.
County Attorney:
402-444-7040
Mayor’s Office:
402-444-5555
– Deena Keilany
I’m mumbling, fumbling, stumbling to find an answer. Who will lead America out of this upheaval? It seems to fall on those who actually know the score.
Those who know what’s happening here and now; on the streets, in hospital rooms, in prison cells. Those at home, juggling with growing anxiety. Those working, worrying about what the next month brings. Those raising families, active shooter drills in the back of their minds, fearful of the oncoming planetary emergency. Those fearful of walking down the street, because it’s far too common to be murdered by police.
Who knows the score? Certainly not comfortable old white people. The ones who discount climate change, gun control, prison reform, or universal health care as unattainable for America because America is “exceptional.” The comfortable old white people are the biggest obstacle. They are the ones we are waiting for, to leave. They have parked their fat asses on the excesses of a ruthless capitalist system and they tell the rest of the population tough luck, no hopeful tomorrows for you.
We need more than their smug, pompous assessments as they tisk-tisk a lack of civility and property damage, because they don’t know the score. We need more than their lectures on bootstraps and hard work, because they don’t know the score. We need more than their droning on about how all politicians lie and both sides are to blame, because they don’t know the score.
No, we need much more. Those who will lead us out are much more.
They are anti-racism, anti-police brutality, anti-death penalty, anti-gun violence, anti-militarism, anti-materialism anti-pollution, anti-white supremacy, anti-voter suppression, anti-discrimination, anti-segregation, anti-capitalism, anti-Donald Trump and his fascist enablers all.
Who leads us out of this?
Maybe you, if you know the score.
Nothing changes unless everything changes.
Words for no other reason than to write. To get them out there. To put them down on screen. To be a part of the swirling mess of life in this time of madness. On this screen, that screen, my screen, your screen. Until we can push firmly into the body of another human being we barely know with an embrace of love. The inhumanity of distance has given way to the disintegration of our American selves in a way none of us have seen before. We don’t know what to make of any of this. This new normal. This leaderless place, this nation as a tinderbox, ready to be ignited. We took solace in the lack of public violence as we stayed put, shut in our homes, immobile. Until public violence roared in the form of a knee, nine minutes on the neck a black body, until the life left. What is wrong with us? Why do we do this? I have so many questions. Questions for America. Questions I must have answers to before I feel I can move on. How do we heal? What will become of us? Is this the beginning of our ending? Whatever this is, do we have the words for it? Not likely. Like so many other things in our lives these days, we lack the words to properly describe them. This feeling, like grief but different. Like helplessness but different. Like anger, but then again like blind fucking rage at the way things are. We told ourselves it doesn’t have to be this way, so why is it? What will become of us? I have so many questions. The answers will not come from the writing of these words, but in this moment, it’s all I’ve got.
In this time of being leaderless, of being out to sea without a captain, with messages of snake oil and wishful thinking, it bears repeating some advice from a real president, to the kids who are coming into this conflagration we have left them:
Don’t be afraid.
Do what you think is right.
Build a community.
I particularly like that last one. Because without a community, what’s the point of any of this?
To the youth of tomorrow, I am sorry. Please do better than us.
It’s what we do. Philanthropy is embedded in our DNA. Even in the time of COVID–19. Especially in the time of COVID–19.
This year for Omaha Gives, our community donated over $8.5 million to 1,010 nonprofit organizations including $141,020 to the COVID–19 Response Fund. Certainly some hopeful, positive news. Which we can all use more of these days.
We are now setting out on a journey of great uncertainty. If that was a river, this is the sea.
The coronavirus pandemic is firmly entrenched in America. Everything is different now. There’s no script for this. But as our work, homes, and leisure have been upended, the offices of JKDC and its teams (this one, that one) are still doing what we’ve always done. We’re making projects happen in the best ways we can given the circumstances of the day.
Our plan is to continue working as long as you’ll have us.
We’ve always tried to be accommodating when it comes to budgets, scopes, and timelines. We’re seasoned at working remotely, collaborating through video screens and telephone lines. And we’ll remain flexible and attuned to the needs of our clients and the projects we work on together. None of that changes.
We push forward in this crisis with a heightened sense of gratitude. For the people we’re continuing to work with as the weeks go by, know we love you and we care about you and what you’re trying to accomplish in all this chaos. We’re honored to stand beside you as the task of making a better future is more important than ever. It starts here, it starts now.
We don’t know what the future holds.
We don’t know how long this lasts.
We don’t know when we come out on the other side.
But we do know, we’ll be here.
If you want to talk more, give a shout.
We wanted to do a little side project to send out the love to all essential workers in the middle of this pandemic. Ones we know, ones we don’t. To show our gratitude, to let them know we’re thinking of them, that we have their back in this national emergency. Initially, we thought website. But that would take too long. Instead, we opted for Instagram Stories.
In order to participate, all you non-essential workers out there, just screenshot the template, fill in your answers, and pin to your story. Done and Done. Simple, easy, and as social as it gets in this time of distancing.
A small gesture. A tiny act. But in these times of colossal challenges, massive changes, and incredible hardships, small things might be our best chance.
Stay safe all, and stay home.
