I don't know the details, no one really does at the moment, but we are hearing that there is a hostage situation happening in Sydney right now. From what we've heard, gunmen are holding people hostage in the Lindt chocolate cafe in Martin Place. Read the BBC account here.
My husband worked in Martin Place for years, and many of our friends still do. I'm texting with my bestie to confirm that her husband is okay. The Lindt cafe is one of my girlfriends' favorite spots to take their kids for a treat in the city.
As the dynamics surrounding Ferguson seethe and boil in America, Australia is always the "grass is greener", the escape hatch, the back door exit to freedom and a better life.
Here, every day another incident of police brutality against Black males is broadcast, another report about the widest income divide between Black and white households in years, statistics about biased discipline of Black girls in schools - the darker the skin, the harsher the punishment...shaky handheld videos of police shooting unarmed men and boys in real time, pictures of undercover police officers pointing their weapons on protesters, my feed chokes and gags on story after story of the wrongs suffered here.
In all this, Australia has seemed a constant, a safety, an assurance.
After a hard day of parenting, a hard day of life, a day when I have struggled to find my balance, a day when I have wrestled with my young son over the injustice of Michael Brown's death, and the pain of the decision not to indict the officer who killed him, a day battling with fear, I am presented with this.
The city I love, a very dear friend in lock down in his office building, and a best friend waiting anxiously for her husband.
Lord, have mercy.
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