Letter to Readers of Views from the Edge

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Dear Friends,

It’s been a while.

Views from the Edge has been unusually silent after the video of George Floyd’s murder under a white Minneapolis Police Department cop’s knee went viral. The silence has its reasons. Sometimes I rub my eyes to be sure the movement of protest is real. Other times I feel I’ve seen it all before, over and over, but most especially during eight years in the cross-hairs of the police and the community as executive director of the Legal Rights Center, founded by black civil rights leaders and the American Indian Movement.

You can’t write or speak without words, or when the knot in your stomach will only let you moan or groan or scream a primal cry of helplessness, or when your head becomes an atom smasher with too many memories. When words come together to form sentences, paragraphs, and pages that speak more clearly, Views from the Edge will break the silence.

Thank you for your moral support and encouragement. Take good care of others and yourself.

Grace and peace,

Gordon

Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, Minnesota, June 21, 2002.le

15 thoughts on “Letter to Readers of Views from the Edge”

  1. Just as you Gordon, I spent a number of years working with gang members in the area where Mr. Floyd was killed and am spending a lot of time reflecting trying to make sense out of this & hoping for changes. Take care.

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  2. I have been worried about you in the silence, thinking it could be the combination of anger and depression that comes with the feeling that we thought we had gotten better and find we seem to be starting all over again. But I think Barb may be right, that this time things may turn out at least somewhat differently. In any case, thank you, Gordon, for all you have done trying to work reconciliation.

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    • Carolyn, I share your hope but see this moment through old eyes. The “principalities, powers, and dominions” defy description and, by their very nature, have a way of twisting what is good into evil. William Stringfellow, Walter Wink, Willem Zuurdeeg, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther Swenson — and your mom and dad still provide what some eyesight through the cateracts.

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    • Hi, Barb,

      We have to hope this is different, but fear what’s coming from the White House between now and the election. Not many years ago Time magazine’s cover page read “The End of Capitalism?” And there was Occupy Wall Street. How quickly mass movements vaporize. Anyway, I hope you’re right. I take comfort that I can always turn to you and CA when the angels seem few.

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      • I know what you mean, and we too cling to our Stewart angels! And I must hope that it’s different—it’s worldwide for one and I think it went on a lot longer than That one. (was the internet around during Occupy?- I think my Brocken neck destroyed brain cells!)

        And keep the faith…soldier on….keep smiling….and chat with Barkley often. He will set you on the right path.

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        • Barclay — like the English bank, not the dog! He’d be very upset by the mis-spelling. Right now he’s under the ottoman in the living room basking in the sun light. His back legs spread flat on the floor like eagles’ wings; his head is looking at the light just to the west of his favorite place.

          Barclay knows nothing of Occupy, Covid-19, or Black Lives Matter — he thinks everyone matters and thinks humans are idiots! When I say the word Trump he growls. It’s the only time he does, and if Donald were in his presence, Barclay would soften up, wag his tail (it never stops wagging), and lick his face.

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