The terrible significance of this day, June 8.

Life goes on, and time goes on. We see the sun go up and go down each day, and feel the seasons changing. After all, everything changes over time.

Or does it?

Our nation is now convulsed in grief, anger and shame over the death of George Floyd. Protests began on May 26 in Minneapolis and have spread to at least 140 cities across the country, and the National Guard has been activated in at least 21 states. Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets in protest, which in some cases have turned violent and destructive. At least a dozen people have been killed.

Today, June 8th, Derek Chauvin, the white police officer whose misuse of power on George Floyd caused his death, today appeared in court via video when his bail was set for $1.25 million.

In a strange and tragic coincidence, on this day 50 years ago, James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, was arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Per History.com, Ray was trying to fly to Belgium, with the eventual goal, of reaching Rhodesia. Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was at the time ruled by an oppressive and internationally condemned white minority government. Ray was an admitted racist.

Extradited to the United States, Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King’s murder in order to avoid the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison and finally died in 1998.

Martin Luther King was shot on April 4, 1968, and his death ignited protests and riots resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property damage in over 100 American cities.

In the intervening decades, has anything changed? Some say no, but some say yes. The very fact that the outrage over George Floyd’s death is now global is seen by some as a positive development — at least the conversation is happening.

But now the bigger question is what do we do. The cities like Minneapolis, New York City and Los Angeles seriously discussing completing dismantling their police departments and building some other type of public safety organization.

Other proposed changes are less monumental. A major music company, Republic Records, today announced it will “remove ‘Urban’ from our verbiage in describing departments, employee titles and music genres.”

“We encourage the rest of the music industry to follow suit as it is important to shape the future of what we want it to look like, and not adhere to the outdated structures of the past.”

The term “urban” is generally used as a catch-all to describe music genres including hip-hop, R&B, soul and rap.

One wonders if companies will soon stop using the term “country” to describe that music as well.

And on that note, there is another weird coincidence on this date. George Orwell’s book 1984 was published 71 years ago on June 8th.