The death of Mr. Floyd was tragic, unnecessary, criminal, and repulsive. It is not different than the death of any innocent individual. Mr. Floyd was created in the image of God, he a valuable part of his community and he played an important part in his community. His loss will be felt and cause hurt and hardship. It was wrong, and if you feel like protest is the appropriate answer, I encourage you to protest. If you feel like shouting at the top of our lungs, please use your freedom. You are within your rights, you can and you should. I feel for me that protest is not the correct answer, and I want to share with you why. You are free to disagree, the dialogue is what is valuable. This is me sharing my thoughts and feelings, not a condemnation on peaceful protest.
I myself am not protesting because of what I feel is the purpose and function of protest. During the civil rights movement, the protests were against policies, laws, and rules set by organizations, businesses, civic groups, and governments. Segregation and discrimination were mandated as rules. The laws and policies were wrong and unjust and needed to be changed. The protests were aimed at getting organizations to change the rules and governments to change the law. The problem was with establishments, set policies that needed amendment or abolishment. It took a long time and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but eventually, it prevailed. That is not to say that racism is gone, but discrimination is now illegal. It is not condoned or sanctioned by the government, in fact, it is a crime. Systematic organizational racism was addressed by protest.
Today, what we are experiencing is not systematic institutional racism. Police departments do not have a set of rules on how to deal with minorities vs white people. Police Officers who abuse or murder minorities, including blacks, do not do so under the direction or orders of the department. It's not a case of the police department being racist or corrupt. The problem is with individuals. This is not an institutional problem, but a cultural one. It's cultural inside of police departments, it doesn't come from the chief or the government, it exists inside of the police department, with the officers and I am willing to bet they are unaware it is even there.
First, police officers deal with the worst parts of society. They deal with criminals every day. That is their job. Most cops are good people, but the reality is, if you are a hammer, eventually everything looks like a nail. After years of being treated badly, being disrespected by those you are arresting and often bystanders, you can get burned out. Cops begin to see people are problems and not people. We need to have counseling programs built into the police force and it needs to be a priority. We need to help police officers deal with frustration, anger, and resentment they feel. The cops who can't deal with these emotions need to be removed. Some people just aren't cut out to be cops. If you are prone to anger, impatient, or have a big ego, being a cop is not the job for you.
The second problem is the underlying cultural belief that black men are violent. If you Google it, you will find articles, books, and a ton of research papers written on this fact. The media has portrayed black men as violent. If you see a movie with a thug, a drug dealer, a gang member, a thief, or a mugger in a back alley, they are normally black men. There are parts of black culture that idolize violence as part of the culture, primarily rap music. The gangster rap music industry is predominantly black men who are capitalizing on the image of violence. This industry is then imitated by young men, many of who are black. All this leads to the view that black men are violent. When you take a police officer who has been disrespected and harassed, who has a bit of an ego problem and a chip on their shoulder, combined with an underlying view that black men are violent, the perfect recipe exists for disaster. It happens too much.
Now understand, I'm not making excuses for anyone. I'm just pointing out the ingredients that are put together that cause the reaction. It's not excusable for a cop to kill an unarmed man because he is angry. He needs to deal with that anger. The cop was responsible for his actions, and he needs to be held accountable, but we have to understand that parts of society that needs to change. I'm a realist and pragmatic, I know that the gangster rap industry isn't going to change. There are parts of the community, black, white, latino, and asian who are going to embrace violence. We can't go out there and expect criminals to stop being criminals. We can be real, some people are violent. So, the pragmatist in me asks, what do we do about it?
The first thing I do is look around. Do I have relationships with a diverse group of people? Do I know black men, or am I getting all my opinions about black men from TV and the radio? The black men I know are not violent, they are not thugs. They are husbands, fathers, they work hard and they support their families. They are caring and kind and good guys. This helps me to have a picture of the black community that isn't the Hollywood version. I can see that black men are not inherently violent.
Second, I notice that there are some in the media that are portraying black men as violent consistently. They are perpetuating the stereotype. I turn that off. I stop supporting that media because it isn't helping me. Next, I see what politicians are using race and divisive tactics to cause division and mistrust in my community. I don't vote for those people, in fact, I support candidates who promote unity. I want to have a community that is made up of individuals who identify by location and commonality, not a fractured community made up of pockets of homogenous ethnic groups. I make sure I have diversity and I want a community that has diversity so I can learn and grow as an individual.
Third, I teach the things I know. I teach English, so I teach diverse literature. I teach Langston Huges, I teach Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. I teach short stories that are from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. I teach students a picture that is diverse so they don't get all their information from the rap music industry. I teach the value of community, of a diverse community, and the importance of learning and growing outside of your own little bubble. I model this for my students, for my children, and for my community. I acknowledge that I have some priveledges that as a white man I am not viewed as violent and I don't carry the stigma that many in the black or hispanic community must shoulder. I also acknowledge that not every black man is the same. One of my black friends may have to deal with problems because of where they live or work. Another black friend may not deal with it and doesn't feel targeted. We can't put people into categories based on skin color. It doesn't matter if it's good, bad, or indifferent when we decide that "all black me" or "all white men" are like this or that, we are contributing to the problem. Every man is his own man.
Finally, I share my thoughts. I will be honest, as a white male, I am afraid to say much. The reason is that I have been told over the years that I can't contribute to the conversation because I have no value. I have no voice to talk about issues that exist in our society. I am white so I can't talk about issues involving the black community. I am a man, so I can't deal with issues of abortion or birth control or rape. I have been pushed to the side because I am not valued. We have torn down community to race and gender and individual identity. No problem is solved this way. No problem is solved by silencing one side or one group. No issue is resolved by control or subversion, and the individuals who propose this method are intellectually dishonest, cowardly, and morally wrong. The issues can not be solved by simply flipping the scales. You cannot trade one problem for another, and I promise you if we don't come together and solve this issue together as a community, it will never be solved. They will never get better if we don't abandon identity politics and utilizing methods that divide and cause deeper division. We need real and solid answers and telling a man who is white that they have no voice because they are white is increasing the divide. It is morally bankrupt to cause deeper division. I am choosing to say something, even though I will be told I have no place, no right. I will probably be called a racist. There is another issue about that, but I will not focus on that today. This post is long enough so I will end with this. A TV personality named Red Green has a simple quote that if we can live by, we will see things improve 100 fold. "Remember, I'm putting for ya, we're all in this together."
Such wisdom. Thank you.
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