What a year 2020 has been so far

This week, I was hoping to write more about the 2019-20 NBA season slowly ramping up, even though I was (and still am) in more support of canceling the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. But at least we would be talking about the Washington Wizards getting ready to finish their season, a sense of a newer normal.

And if the pandemic didn’t happen, we would have been talking about the Washington Mystics’ 2020 WNBA season. Instead, they too are waiting for their season to start altogether.

But over the last several days, we have seen protests in cities across the United States, including here in Washington. They were sparked by George Floyd’s murder last Monday, but the protests are there to bring an end to police brutality and structural racism in society, in particular against African Americans.

The protests have been mostly peaceful. But there has also been looting and destruction in many cities, including Washington. I found the authorities’ use of tear gas on peaceful demonstrations in Lafayette Park just so the President of the United States can take a photo at St. John’s Episcopal Church abominable.

The last three months have been horrible and I felt afraid because the coronavirus’ spread. I’m still just as afraid of the coronavirus today. But I want the country to end systemic racism in society without daily violence to send the message across through constructive measures as well.

I really hope that’s still possible despite the hyper-polarized society we live in today. That doesn’t just start with being good to one another in public and private. It also means voting for the right officials at the local and state level, as former U.S. President Barack Obama noted in a Medium piece on Monday.

These are certainly unprecedented times. But as tough as 2020 is right now, I hope the changes we make in society this year will set the path for a brighter future.