What the windows say

On the windows of the Chicago restaurant Virtue, in an elegant typeface:

I can’t sell CDs — Alton Sterling

I can’t leave a party — Jordan Edwards

I can’t relax in my own home — Botham Jean

I can’t go to church — Jennifer Pinckney

I can’t sleep — Breonna Taylor

I can’t breathe — George Floyd

I can’t peacefully protest — Black people everywhere

I can’t jog — Ahmaud Arbery

I can’t watch birds — Christian Cooper

I can’t kneel — Colin Kaepernick

I can’t have a routine traffic stop — Sandra Bland

I can’t legally carry a weapon — Philando Castile

In May, the windows made me pay attention. In June, we made a reservation and had an extraordinary meal. The things that happen inside the restaurant are a rejoinder to things that happen outside it.

Daughter Number Three reminds us that it was ten years ago yesterday that Philando Castile was killed by a police officer.

Wikipedia articles
Killing of Alton Sterling : Murder of Jordan Edwards : Murder of Botham Jean : Charleston church shooting : Breonna Taylor : George Floyd : Black Lives Matter : Murder of Ahmaud Arbery : Christian Cooper : Colin Kaepernick : Death of Sandra Bland : Killing of Philando Castile