The same generalizations that brought you Racism now brings you Division.
I believe you can not view this national unrest as a black or white issue. The police are bad, the protesters are fighting for their rights. The cops are good, and the protesters are looting criminals.
It’s a spectrum of inequality and misunderstanding spanning decades if not centuries, and it’s not going away by policing the streets. That’s been tried for years.
Viewing this as a Spectrum of Disfunction can help to redefine specific behaviors we don't approve of as a society, and as importantly, help dismantle the socio-economic division that this country has bred over the last few decades. Each individual, each community, and each faction can be plotted on this spectrum, not on a side of right or wrong, but on a point where multitudes of factors colour their actions. Racism, and more importantly, Systemic Racism, isn't going away soon, but by defining the specific causes and the true consequences, I believe we can help to heal for future generations, including the ones who were born this century.
This issue is not just about Police violence or any particular incident. It's about oppression of a class that has been going on for hundreds of years.
Even if you just take the last 100, and only in the US, it involves segregated schools, biased land development, unfair labour practices, disenfranchisement and lynchings.
Systemic lifetime oppression has created a subclass within the United States that includes poverty, poor education, and a mindset of scarcity that harms everyone, not just a specific demographic. 'Pitchforks' don't just come for the wealthy, they come for thee.
You may have to step out of your comfort zone on this one. The visceral reaction of jailing looters and curfewing protests is like taking Aleve for cancer. It may take the pain away for a bit, but the issue is still gonna kill you. We must as a country finally deal with the disease that plagues our national body, and as we can see by our fractured society, it has already metastasized.
It's not Racism that will end our nation as we know it, it's division.
Don't misunderstand me, racism and it's consequences for the oppressed is real, and deadly. It has been for centuries. Generalizing about groups you don't understand leads to great suffering, but the fact that all definable races have been guilty of these actions points to the same issue. We are a divided country.
I lived through the riots in Los Angeles in 1992, I literally cried as I watched the first fires start. I had the same feelings as I watched an armored troop carrier transport very armed Police to Downtown Denver. When we see scenes like that we all look for someone to blame, and whether it's a race of people, a group or a community, it's easier to classify than delineate. We must take the destructive behaviours away from races and organizations, and define them as the cancerous behaviours they are, regardless of who is instigating them. Hatred, fear, violence, and judgementalism are not exclusive to any race or culture. When we fish for injustice, we must use a single hook, not a net.
I am from the Midwest, a place where Christian values guide our actions. Recently I scrolled through comments on a post from a high school classmate as she described loading her guns in reaction to the protests. Now, you can voice your disgust from your privileged white couches, but it will help nothing. Christian values are great until you have to love the poor, and embrace the leper.
JFK said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Growing up in the breadbasket of America has given us a gift to deal with the problems that exist today, and it's not gun skills. Compassion, understanding, and empathy, those are the assets that are the real values we need to employ as a nation to further our growth and strengthen our unity.
I remember watching Dan Rather get punched in the face at the Chicago DNC. It was 1968. He recently had this to say. "America was in need of fixing, it's always in need of fixing. That is both the perils and promise of ' a more perfect union'".
I recently knelt with my 14 year old daughter and 20,000 other concerned citizens, the majority were not black. We listened, we communed, we tried to understand. We did not tag anything or break any windows, but my friend from high school has branded us with generalizations that compell compassionate people to load their guns.
I beg you to rethink this issue. The media, the political parties, and the religious leaders today are all trying to divide us along any lines they can define, and race is an easy one. Like it or not, we are a country of white, brown, yellow, red, and black citizens, but only together we can show the world that America has NOT lost it’s strength, but is stronger than ever because of the very diversity it was founded on, and we will not be destroyed by people who seek to divide us and conquer us.
Look past those who have an agenda, the true False Prophets. Make up your own minds, but do it with the values, the compassion, the understanding, and the empathy of the kind of people who understand we have much more in common than you think. We are all deserving, and we are all Americans.
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