It’s Monday and time for Melanie’s Share Your World questions.
QUESTIONS
Are justice and the law necessarily the same thing?
No. Laws are the rules we live by and justice is treating everyone fairly according to the law. Example: Marijuana possession has been made legal in many states, but before that happened, black people were more likely to be convicted and go to prison than whites. Even today, prisons are crowded with people of color, especially blacks, disproportionally according to their population. George Floyd died because of some petty charge about using a counterfeit $20 bill; then the police arrived and used bodily force even though he posed no threat to them. Even if George Floyd had had a record, there was no justification for what the police did. I can’t see that happening to white people. My son was once caught with weed paraphernalia and taken to a local police station. The police then called us to come and post bail. We did and he was freed. Later, the bail was reimbursed. Trayvon Martin was killed by a white wannabe cop and his killer was acquitted in the state of Florida. It’s clear that in this country, there is still less justice for people of color.
Which kitchen appliance do you use every day?
The refrigerator and the microwave oven. My husband uses the grind and brew coffee maker every day, but I can no longer drink coffee.
What is one thing you’ll never do again?
Get pregnant and have another child. I’m way too old!
What event escalated very quickly?
The Trump rally on January 6 that ended up as a insurrection and assault on our nation’s Capitol, during which rioters smashed windows, destroyed property, and killed a policeman. Five people died that day. What did Trump do? He dragged his feet on calling on the National Guard to help restore order, so in spite of pleas for help from lawmakers inside the building, no back-up arrived.
GRATITUDE (As always, optional)
Feel free to share something that made you feel good from the past week!
People have admired my artwork and one person even offered to buy one of my drawings of a cat. I wasn’t there at the time, but probably would have sold it. The circumstances don’t matter; I am just happy that people have been very encouraging about my artwork, and that is a great motivation to continue doing it!
Wanderlust & Wonderment 
That is a very cool drawing.
Thank you!
Thanks, Katy for Sharing Your World! That drawing is AMAZING!! The perspective, the use of negative space and black and white colors…Lordie! I’d buy it and I don’t even have cats. Great job!! I hear much about the color discrimination problem, and I’m sympathetic, but I can’t know from an ethnic person’s point of view what that means. I read recently (within the last six months at least) that Caucasian folks are dwindling in numbers, and black or Hispanic are definitely on the rise. Maybe the shoe will be on the other foot soon? Discrimination and that sort of thinking is just wrong whoever is doing it. There’s some fine lines in my opinion. Here in Utah there hasn’t been (in the past) a huge ethnic population. I guess the Mormon reputation as a ‘cult’ and ‘weirdos’ kept everyone out for a long time. Great answers and thank you again for participating!
I’m reading an interesting book right now called “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is in the form of a letter written to his adolescent son. I have gained many insights reading this book, and what the black experience is from the point of view of a black person. It’s not long (150 pages) and I highly recommend it!
Thank you, Melanie, for your compliments regarding my artwork!