A family, struggling to survive.
A police officer, attempting to apprehend a suspect.
An investigative news team, working on a story.
A little girl, just trying to get a good night's sleep.
Welcome to another tragic intersection on the road to hell, paved with good intentions, stained with blood and tears of regret.
Aiyana Jones is gone. Geoffrey Feiger has announced his intentions to care for the needs of her family. An independent investigation of the Detroit Police Department's actions is underway.
And what about the rest of us? What do we do now?
We have a moment here, a moment when we are all angry and looking for answers. A moment when we are all paying attention. If you are like me, you want to do something. You want to help.
We always do. And then the details of the story start to spill out, and they're not pretty, and our altruism dissolves into a white hot ball of hopelessness and frustration.
We've been down this road before. This is how it goes, unless we do something else.
Follow the story. Read the reports. Get your answers. But don't let this moment pass without remembering where we are. We will be here again, unless we get off this road and act on our good intentions.
It's too late to help Aiyana Jones, but we can do something for the hundreds of other children who live in areas of high crime and poverty. Here are a few charities you can help today, with a donation of any size or the gift of your time:
This is off the top of my head at 8:35 on a rainy Tuesday morning. If you know of others, please leave them in the comments. If I think of more, I'll add them.
Because I can't stand to stand on this road any more.
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