美國新冠疫情日記06/03 Calling For Change

Calling For Change

Most of the rallies in the different cities yesterday were peaceful, especially in Houston Texas. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Congressman Al Green in their speeches urged the angry crowds to be calm. Mayor Turner said that George Floyd was our neighbor. As a child he grew up in our neighborhood. The mayor told the crowd that City Hall is your home.“We welcome you to come back home.”At the same time, a group of people including white, black and brown people were kneeling down on the ground and praying and comforting each other. Some of them were even apologizing about what is happening in our community.

George Floyd’s body will be sent back to his home town and a memorial service will be held on June 8. We expect that a huge crowd will come to the city. He will rest here at Houston.

A group of people have also now started what is being called Blackout Tuesday, the trend of posting a solid black image on Instagram in an effort to raise awareness about police brutality and systemic racism.

In Minneapolis, teachers are calling on the community to give out more than sixty thousand food bags on the school grounds. We now have so many people lending their hands to the society to show their support.

America was built by many people who came to this land with the spirit of liberty and freedom. Even as we are facing many difficulties, we believe we will overcome and prevail.

人民的呼喚

近日在全國各大城市之示威遊行活動多半以和平方式收場，昨天在德州休斯敦市政府廣場之大型集會上，市長特納和國會議員格林都發表了令人感動的演說，他們指出被害的佛洛伊德是我們鄰居長大的小孩，市長告訴示威者，市政府大樓是你們的家，你們回來我當然十分歡迎。休斯敦警察局長阿艾曼多也一直在人群中和示威者一起表達悲傷之情，在市府廣場的一個角落上，我們看到近百位跪地的市民，其中包括黑人、白人及拉丁裔，他們舉起右手向上帝禱告，祈求種族和諧，國泰民安，一些白人並當場向黑人表達歉意，這是多麽令人感動之場面。

依據有關人士透露，佛洛伊德之遺體將運到他的家鄉休斯敦，並將于六月八日舉行一場盛大之追思安葬大會，讓他安息在這塊曾經是他成長之土地。

今天我們大家共同居住在這塊土地上，任何人都無法置身事外，我們的社區、我們的街頭、我們的學校在上演許多燒搶之埸面，令人擾心和恐懼，但是我們華亞裔社區也不斷地伸出援手，把溫暖送到災民手中，在此同時，我們更要努力加入主流社區，爭取政治上之發言權，投下自己神聖的選票，才是雙管齊下之上上策。

雖然新冠病毒不斷襲擊我們加上警方虐民事件産生之社會動盪，大部分社會有識之士已經覺醒了，正在社交媒體上發起的黑色星期二運動已經喚起上千萬人之支持，這些藝術家們強烈表達對佛洛伊德被謀殺之不滿。

我們同時也目睹許多義工正在各大城市的街道上，清理被暴徒們破壞的商家門窗，掃除遍地的玻璃，他們正在爲受災戶盡一份心力，明利阿波羅市的一名教師，今天更發起捐獻食品運動，立即有市民響應，共捐出六萬五千袋食物送給急需之市民。

美利堅共和國能在短短二百多年建立爲世界第一強國，是經過多少先來後到的移民共同努力，美國之立國精神在于保障自由，獨立民主之精神，雖然我們目前受到巨大之挑戰，但是多半的人民仍然充滿信心，我們是可以去改變的。