We want to believe we aren't like this anymore.
"That was a long time ago," we say. "Things are different now."
"But are they?", I ask.
Perhaps we should ask Trayvon Martin that question.
Or Eric Garner.
Or the man choked to death for selling loose cigarettes on a street corner.
"I can't breath," his final words.
Or let's ask any of the scores of victims of extra judicial killings for which no one is ever held accountable.
Or perhaps we should ask any of the thousands of refugee children separated from parents and caged in steel lock-ups.
"It's like summer camp for them,"
one enlightened legislator pronounced.
I don't pretend to know the answers.
But I do know right from wrong.
I know good from evil.
I know the difference between what is legal,
and what is honorable and human.
I know we have a choice.