Here are just a few thoughts, in no particular order, on recent events … presented in humility due to the first bullet below.
- First of all, my thoughts may or may not be worth much, because I am all too obviously an older white male. I have not experienced anything like what people of color, women, LGBTQ, or other oppressed groups have experienced. I have lived most of my life from a position of unthinking privilege. The only mitigating factor may be that as I have gotten older, I’ve at least become more aware of it, and more determined to do what I can about it. But still, I am intensely aware of who I am and what I look like, and therefore offer the following in the humility of that knowledge.
- I included an MLK quote in Friday’s Forward Five that seems even more appropriate today: “But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”
- I think most white people just can’t grasp the despair and anger of our black neighbors when yet another person of color is murdered by police, and the police once again are not punished in any meaningful way. Investigations drag on and on, charges are never filed, and most of us white people just move on. Why would we be surprised, then, when people hit the streets?
- And, let’s name this as well: The lack of transparency and the delaying tactics by law enforcement make things much worse. It smacks of “let’s wait them out and see if it all just blows over.” As I’ve said before, there is no reasonable explanation for the Breonna Taylor investigation to still be “ongoing.” That’s bullshit. Would you like for the protests to last as long as the investigation has?
- It seems clear that in at least some cases, the protesters were peaceful and yet the police provoked a confrontation. To those police that did that: Why? To prove that you are in charge? The strongest thing you could have done as law enforcement is simply stand your ground in a non-threatening way and let people have their say. Provoking a confrontation just proves how weak you are.
- Also, law enforcement, if you are going to start using tear gas and other means of force, you are supposed to warn people. You knew the protest was going to happen; why did you not have a sound system loud enough to be heard over anything and everything? If people can’t hear the warning, they can’t react. Is that what you actually wanted?
- And another question for law enforcement – Why start the tear gas before the curfew went into effect? I heard the line “it was an unlawful assembly because they didn’t have a permit.” Look, let’s say this clearly: This wasn’t some long-planned parade. This was a spontaneous protest, born out of anger and despair and desperation to be heard. And why in God’s name would you encourage people to “peacefully protest,” and then throw tear gas at them for doing so?
- It is too soon to say “the violence was caused by outsiders.” It is also too soon to say “the violence was caused by the protesters.” Beware of the normal human tendency to classify things in order to explain them.
- And by the way, it is not out of the realm of possibility that some of the violence was caused by people with their own agenda: to make the black protesters look bad. It’s happened before in many protests.
- I don’t understand the purpose of the curfew, when you’re going to have hundreds of people show up to protest. Do you think you can arrest them all?
- Did anyone from the mayor’s office or the governor’s office reach out to any of the local leaders of the protests to work together to make the protest powerful yet not violent?
- Why are police all over the country attacking the media? Local reporters got shot at, tear gassed, and almost arrested. In Minneapolis, a journalist got her eye shot out. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The officer in the local video obviously knew that was the media, and yet turned and shot at them deliberately. Why? And LMPD, what are you going to do about it? Take months to “investigate” it?
And finally – the old chant still rings true: “No justice, no peace.”
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- When a police officer murders a man in broad daylight, it is captured on video, and yet no charges are filed;
- When an innocent woman is killed in her bed and two months later the investigation is still “ongoing”;
- When a black man is simply out jogging and is gunned down by two white vigilantes, and they walk free for months and only get arrested when the New York Times does a story about it;
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then we can expect days like these. And we SHOULD expect days like these; why would we expect an entire race of people to simply “take it”? They shouldn’t, and we shouldn’t.
It’s long past time to deal with the brutalizing of oppressed peoples. It’s long past time to face up to the fact that we have a serious problem with violence against those peoples. And it’s long past time to face up to the fact that our law enforcement agencies, our courts, our economic institutions, our businesses, have all shared in the violence, and have been allowed to get away with it.
As a society, we have to face it, name it, and deal with it.
Or else we will have more George Floyds, more Breonna Taylors, more Ahmaud Arberys. More weeping, more anger, more protests, and still more violence, in a never-ending spiral.
No justice, no peace.
Know justice, know peace.
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