This is going to be more of a collection of thoughts and information/excerpts from conversations with friends than an essay.
Anger is a strange thing. I don't think people understand how angry Black people have been for a long time, and how controlled that rage is. We are angry, we are tired, we are unsurprised. A majority of us channel that into something that allows us to handle it with grace. You may see it as a sigh, blink, or eye-roll, but it's the only way to subvert an expectation and approach a problem interwoven into society. To be clear though, every time I've had a measured, calm conversation trying to explain why systemic discrimination is an "Us" problem and not a "Me" problem, I was furious. These conversations don't emotionally drain me, so I generally invite them, but the anger is still there.
A few dominoes have triggered our current situation:
A pandemic that has hit US Black and brown communities harder because of a severely inept healthcare infrastructure followed by grossly incompetent Federal leadership.
A depression that has hit US Black and brown communities harder because of a severely skewed labor infrastructure.
A decade of gaslighting on top of generations of fear and pain. Our parents told your parents that this was a problem and that wasn't good enough. We told you that this was a problem and because of cellphones, we had videos this time, and it was effectively ignored. Every response until now has either downplayed the severity or outright dismissed concerning events as anomalies. The past three years have ramped up an effort that was already insidious.
George Floyd is a catalyst. He is a reason, he isn't THE reason. There's a reason most people in the Black community don't even seem mildly surprised.
What's missing in a ton of the narratives is the striving for an ideal America. Most Black Americans I know believe we can become the country we pretend we are. That the America that aspires to be better could actually grow to be better. However, for the young, hope becomes despair when hard-fought growth is regressive. The kids are angry, without a direction, and have a consistently hamstrung future. They have every right to be.
Riots vs Looters
"Violence has never solved anything" uh, sure as long as you've ignored all of history. MLK is everyone's prime example of that and he was assassinated, given a holiday, and had his message whitewashed so that we didn't burn the country down. The promise of "we'll do better" has not been fulfilled. That was 52 years ago.
Speaking of MLK, please quit quoting the two sentences you know, all it does is show that you've cherrypicked the one part of Black history that makes you feel safe and ignored the rest. He had a 75% disapproval rate with white Americans at the time, so please, shut up.
Factory white views on oppression and the right way to protest have always been prevalent but they are as empty in content as they are actionable suggestions. Every peaceful protest has either been ignored or vilified. To react is to be human and you are asking people to follow a social contract that has been broken by those who enforce it. "YOU" must be peaceful while the lives of your friends and family are ruined. "YOU" must be peaceful while the futures of your children are taken. It's spitting in our face.
People are worried about their safety, their families, and the built-in unpredictability of huge protesting crowds. However, if you are only using your voice to play devil's advocate, don't be surprised that people think you are on the side of the devil. It's telling that you're less critical of those holding up an immoral system than those rising up against it.
Oh, you would support our right to be treated as human but we were a little too angry about getting murdered? Word?
The vast majority of protests have been peaceful. There are countless videos of BLM protesters stopping opportunist assholes from doing more damage. It is hilariously ironic that you'd like to focus your attention on the minority now.
The Police
My first extracurricular interaction with a cop was when I was 10 years old, walking to school in Hawaii. I have had more interactions with cops than I have appendages. Some were benign, some were great, more than half were unfortunate. I don't talk about them unless asked because I'm lucky. I have the gift of resources and a great family that prepared me at a young age how to deal with an unhinged officer. That is not everyone.
We all know some good cops. I know some great cops. That's not the point. When you look at the problem as a whole, it's systemic. It's not a few bad apples in a good system. It's a few good apples in a corrupt system. Police brutality is more than the murders. It's the interactions, the harassment, and the involvement in the communities they police. The incentives and laws around them are grossly problematic to the goal of having a fair society. A few examples that people aren't generally aware of, but should be:
Civil Asset Forfeiture
In the past 20 years, the Federal Government has taken 36.5 Billion in assets seized from people, many of whom were never charged with a crime and never had their property returned. This is a travesty and state-sponsored robbery.
https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/no-drugs-no-crime-and-just-pennies-school-how-police-use-civil-asset-forfeiture
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence rates in police families are 2-4(24-40% of households vs 10%) times as common as the American Populace. This is problematic for a multitude of reasons, from implied pressure that changes the behavior of surrounding officers that let it slide, to the general fact of "how do we trust officers to protect victims in the community?"
http://womenandpolicing.com/violenceFS.asp#notes.
Domestic violence that doesn't stop them from becoming officers
https://www.propublica.org/article/stebbins-alaska-cops-criminal-records-domestic-violence
While we are on the topic, as early as 2018, 35 States have loopholes that allow them to rape those in custody
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertsamaha/this-teenager-accused-two-on-duty-cops-of-rape-she-had-no
What to do?
There are Police/States that have or have proposed laws that would start to help. There are laws and practices that have/can be adopted to move the needle in the right direction. Here are some organizations/studies with years of data and suggestions:
Police Use Of Force Project
http://useofforceproject.org/
Changing Union Contracts
Every 4-6 years the Police Union renegotiates its accountability system. Generally, completely purging misconduct records, reinstating fired officers in the contract. The worse the contract the higher a city's police violence rates.
https://www.checkthepolice.org/
Community Investment
Investment in community programs has been consistently shown to reduce the murder rate, property crime rate, and violent crime rate.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122417736289
Campaign Zero
There are tons of other great ideas, research, and programs communities have been working on. BLM's central campaign, Campaign Zero, has listed them in a pretty easy to read format here:
https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision
We all stand up in the way we can, for some people, that's in the streets, for others it may just be within your own family and companies. Do not feel guilty because you aren't screaming from the rooftops when you may be more effective at listening in an office. In the calls for justice and change, we will all need to be active in our communities and aware of how we contribute. The words we use, the people we ignore, the leaders we vote for. National leadership is bankrupt, we must rely on building better localities.
P.S.
Do not make the one Black person in your office send out a message about diversity. Your education is not their responsibility.
#blacklivesmatter