Still closer to home
Post 3. Today, almost a week after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, the national toll is still to be calculated. The trauma of witnessing his unnecessary death remains, and will remain, etched in our collective memory. The protests which seemed to evolve naturally should have been no surprise to anyone. In this age of instant communication, with seemingly endless slayings of unarmed but also minority citizens, the anger develops and builds up.
Add to that the frustration of our national helplessness in the face of the Covid-19, the millions and millions out of work, hanging on the barbed wire of financial ruin, the uncertainty of infection, and the feeling of vulnerability shared by most of us, and the fuel for protests and violence was amply present. That some miniscule minority would see the protests and unrest as opportunities to wreck mayhem and to loot should not be surprising.
What we, as a society, have to confront is how to reorient--perhaps from the start--the police to be color-blind when it comes to skin, to truly embrace the motto, "to serve and protect" and to move quickly when violations of public trust occur. We have to find a way to defuse the hate-mongering of bigots, both those in positions of power (government, media, entertainment) and those individuals who spew their hatred within their own social orbits. We have to work to eliminate our collective social expectations, so that each person is judged by what they do, and what they accomplish, not their class, caste, or ethnicity. In a sense, these expectations have been, should have been, our guideposts since the birth of this nation. We have to work towards them, knowing full well that these goals will take decades to achieve. But no matter what, they are worth working towards, and attainable.
Add to that the frustration of our national helplessness in the face of the Covid-19, the millions and millions out of work, hanging on the barbed wire of financial ruin, the uncertainty of infection, and the feeling of vulnerability shared by most of us, and the fuel for protests and violence was amply present. That some miniscule minority would see the protests and unrest as opportunities to wreck mayhem and to loot should not be surprising.
What we, as a society, have to confront is how to reorient--perhaps from the start--the police to be color-blind when it comes to skin, to truly embrace the motto, "to serve and protect" and to move quickly when violations of public trust occur. We have to find a way to defuse the hate-mongering of bigots, both those in positions of power (government, media, entertainment) and those individuals who spew their hatred within their own social orbits. We have to work to eliminate our collective social expectations, so that each person is judged by what they do, and what they accomplish, not their class, caste, or ethnicity. In a sense, these expectations have been, should have been, our guideposts since the birth of this nation. We have to work towards them, knowing full well that these goals will take decades to achieve. But no matter what, they are worth working towards, and attainable.
Finally found you! Got any suggestions to get us started?
ReplyDeleteDespite common rhetoric, according to Washington Post which has created a database of police shootings, killings of unarmed citizens by police has gone down since 2015
ReplyDelete