This year began with a memorial service for my amazing mother, Dorothea Morgan.
As I looked around the room, I realized the astounding variety of viewpoints and personalities brought together by my mother’s spectacular artwork.
It was a moment of clarity, a 20/20 moment.
We turned the corner and ran straight into COVID-19.
Life changed drastically for many of us but, once again, we were presented with a 20/20 moment.
The virus forced us to focus on the overwhelming disparities in our larger, national community.
The eruption of protests and violence in our big cities is not simply coincidental.
As COVID-19 triggered the shutting down of many community activities, a segment of the population went into overdrive complaining about how their rights were being taken away.
Most of us, however, cannot imagine what it is like being a young Black man, or the mother of a young Black person in an inner-city neighborhood.
Imagine having to train your children, from an early age, that those who protect others while on the streets may not be the ones to go to when you are in danger.
Returning to the beginning, my mother put her life in danger working for civil rights in the south in the 1950s.
Why can we not get it right?
Even one act of hatred and racism is a problem for all of us, no matter where we live.
What we need is true 2020 vision.
Deborah Morgan-Ellis
Port Angeles