Vested Interest June/July 2020

The year 2020 is shaping up to be one for the history books. Never in a million years could we have ever contemplated facing a time when our courthouses, our cases and much of our lives as we knew them, would come to a screeching halt. Who among us would have ever thought an international health crisis, a pandemic, would sweep the world. That a real life “Contagion,” as depicted in the 2011 film of the same name, would sicken the world, and our country would be so ill prepared that our citizens would need to shelter-in-place to “flatten” the curve and slow the spread of the disease. As if that were not enough, we were hit with a second whammy: the incredibly inhumane and unjust death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police officers in Minnesota. This injustice was not new, but the in-humaneness of one of the officers kneeling on a handcuffed and prone Mr. Floyd’s neck while the officer’s hands were casually in his own pockets as Mr. Floyd’s life left his body. He looked completely comfortable and unconcerned that he was being recorded. His actions shocked the conscience of the world. And, in response, people in all 50 states and across the world, protested, marched and the powers-that-be committed to change. Not since the civil rights marches of the Dr. King era had we seen such a united call for justice. [read more]