I, like many others, can not bear to wake up to another news story about another unarmed person shot dead by the police in this country. I generically use the term person but I could very easily put the word black in front of that statement and it would be virtually synonymous.
I had to resist the temptation to pass on a social media article or meme that cleverly describes why #blacklivesmatter is necessary, but those are ubiquitous at this point and those who don't have it by now aren't likely to get it anytime soon.
I hate talking about race with most (white) people. I find it so irritatingly frustrating that I would rather be getting dental work done by my barber. As I wrote earlier in my post about the confederate flag, it isn't because people who don't get it are bad, they just literally can't take the pain. Except unlike people of other hues, they don't have to, so usually they don't. That is what we call white privilege. Hell sometimes I wish I never took the pill all those years ago, my mind would probably be more at ease.
So to those, who like me, feel that #blacklivesmatter is important, here is my point. The black lives matter movement is imperative, not because it seeks to convince white people to be nice, but because it helps black people assert that "yes- I matter also." It is important because it is a powerful statement of self love that asserts "I am important and I will not be silent." It is statement that is diametrically opposed to the reality of most of our collective US history. It is a statement and a movement that seeks to right real and present wrongs- and to begin a reversal of generations of psychological trauma.
Though I believe fervently in the power of the blacklivesmatter movement, I know many who do not believe or do not understand. I am not black, so my understanding of these issues will always be incomplete. So I get it when my brothers and sisters (white and otherwise) who don't want to give credence to black lives matter. Again it is hard to grasp when you don't have to. The inability to grasp the challenges faced by others who are different is not the mark of an inherently bad spirit, it signals a lack of empathy. This does not mean black people are inherently more empathic, it means that they are much closer to the ugly truth on this one. People aren't necessarily bad, many of us just live in bubbles until our bubbles get popped.
So how do we reverse the startling killing of unarmed (mainly black) people by law enforcement agencies? Cameras are good, citizens police committees are good. We also need to work together. This means, speaking for myself, we work with anyone who believes that killing of unarmed people is a problem (including white people, black people, Latinos, Asians, Native people, Muslims, gay people, Jewish people, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers and the 1000's of police officers who who have worked for years without engaging in unnecessary brutality ). On the other hand.
This may sound cynical but this is the United States of America, the ultimate answer lies in capitalism. Over the course of decades the US and individual states conducted massive public health campaigns to end smoking. These public health campaigns were of questionable effectiveness, however the rates of smoking did drop dramatically. These rates dropped dramatically in correlation with rising cigarette prices. In effect the smoking rate didn't change until it hit the pocket book of individual smokers. This effect is a principle of controlled capitalism whereby they increase the price of a commodity to create scarcity or price consumers out of individual markets (kind of like red-lining, gentrification or luxury goods marketing).
So how does this relate to officer involved shootings of unarmed people? It is simple. We can continue to encourage others to be good people and to pay attention, some will. However this issue, like global warming, will not get proper attention until it hits the pocket book. So, if you really want to effect change take one from the Erin Brockovich handbook- SUE!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
The Confederate flag, the "N" word, racism and why I wish I still had my Boss Hogg action figure.
Should the confederate flag be removed from the state house in South Carolina and other official government places, absolutely! Should the confederate flag be removed from the General Lee on Dukes of Hazzard, meh.
As with everything that is extrapolated to death, this debate was taken to it's least logical conclusion when TV land removed re-runs of a decades old show about an orange Dodge Charger and the people who drove it. This decision served to drum up interest in a bad show with cool car chases; sure to keep Bo, Luke, Daisy and Cooter in the luxurious glow of royalty checks for at least a couple more years. It also highlighted the preposterous, utterly ridiculous nature of what we deem newsworthy and the instantaneous way in which some human beings choose to take offense over the most asinine things.
A couple of days later and social media is littered with posts celebrating the young woman who removed the flag from the capital grounds and defensive memes about how not everyone who flies the flag is racist. First of all flying the confederate flag in an official government capacity is very different from allowing some guy to paint one on a truck, but I will get to that later.
Are you racist for flying the Confederate flag? Maybe you are, I tend to think most people are at least a little bit racist. We tend to treat racism as if it were an exception to the love and harmony we share as people in a nation that resembles a coke commercial. We do not live in that world. We live in a place stained by generations of institutionalized racism that continues to foster inequity in education, economic opportunity and in glaring, searing injustice in our justice system.
Racism is not an exception. It is a living, breathing organism in our society that permeates to our very core. It is a monster that we did not individually create and are individually powerless to stop. It goes well beyond a celebrity secretly caught saying the "N" word or some college fraternity singing drunken, racist songs. But this is what we like to focus on because it makes these issues seem smaller and more easily manageable, instead of what they are, gigantic messes that have no easy fixes and require a level of inward assessment that most people will never attempt, because it is painful and difficult.
I imagine most people who fly the confederate flag, for whatever reason, don't really think about institutional racism or the legacy of inequity when doing so. They probably think that they are good people who do nice things for others, maybe they are. They probably think they can fly the flag because it is their right to do so, it is. They may think they are honoring their ancestors, I could speak volumes to my disagreement with this but that is another post entirely. Maybe they just want to hear Skynard play Free Bird, well so do I, as long as I never have to Hear Sweet Home Alabama again!
If you fly the confederate flag, let me admit, I don't get it. Most of my relatives who were in the US at the time of civil war were confederates, but I am not a southerner. I am a westerner and not one given to romantic notions of how the past was somehow better. What I would ask of anyone who flies the flag is to really think about their reasoning and consider other perspectives.
The confederate flag may be a point of ancestral pride to some but to others is a frightening reminder of slavery, intimidation, segregation and lynching. It is frightening to many, who have a core visceral reaction to the very sight of the stars and bars. It is a reminder of a terrible ancestral legacy to those who watched the flag used first for the confederacy and then co-opted by the KKK and other groups who sought to intimidate black people, Jewish people, Asians people, Latinos, immigrants and even Catholics.
Maybe those who fly the confederate flag are trying to rehabilitate it as a symbol. Maybe, like with African Americans who use the "N" word, they are trying to put some kind of good spin on an inanimate thing that has been used to for the purposes of evil. If this is the case, I offer the same argument I would to those attempting to rehab the "N" word. Words and symbols have power, they have legacies and meanings. We did not create these legacies and meanings, we cannot change them.
My personal hope is that the confederate flag would die to history, just like the "N" word. Does this mean that I believe people who fly it are bad? No! I have met people who said the most ignorant things and yet, when it came down to it, showed the deepest levels of human compassion. I have seen people who talk about helping others on a large scale yet ignore the suffering of those right in front of them. Life is too long and complicated for labels that fit into facebook memes or for simple solutions to deeply rooted problems.
As for allowing the confederate flag to fly on government property. Let me first admit that I loved my General Lee toy car and Boss Hogg action figure as a child, I still wonder what happened to them.
The flag of the Confederacy was the flag of a nation that began in open rebellion with the United States of America. This was in essence the flag of a self declared nation at war with the United States. In this vein of logic the confederate flag would be on par with the flags of Britain, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, North Korea and the Ottoman Empire.
As to the heritage argument. Yes many people have ancestors who fought for the confederate nation and live in the 11 states that formed this nation. We also have several states that were a part of Mexico until they were lost during the Mexican American war. There are many people living in the United States who are descendants of Mexican veterans of the Mexican American War. Imagine the uproar if a state decided to fly the Mexican flag on official government property, let alone any preposterous attempts to fly the official flag of the Ottoman Empire.
Beyond these arguments, there is a human one. The government, as flawed as it is, is supposed to represent all people. Openly endorsing a symbol that is so deeply offensive to a large portion of the population falls far short of this aim. So yes, it is your right to fly the Confederate flag on your scale model General Lee or rock the stars and bars on that old Skynard t-shirt, but no, this is not the same as flying the flag high on the grounds of a state capitol, it is not the same at all.
As with everything that is extrapolated to death, this debate was taken to it's least logical conclusion when TV land removed re-runs of a decades old show about an orange Dodge Charger and the people who drove it. This decision served to drum up interest in a bad show with cool car chases; sure to keep Bo, Luke, Daisy and Cooter in the luxurious glow of royalty checks for at least a couple more years. It also highlighted the preposterous, utterly ridiculous nature of what we deem newsworthy and the instantaneous way in which some human beings choose to take offense over the most asinine things.
A couple of days later and social media is littered with posts celebrating the young woman who removed the flag from the capital grounds and defensive memes about how not everyone who flies the flag is racist. First of all flying the confederate flag in an official government capacity is very different from allowing some guy to paint one on a truck, but I will get to that later.
Are you racist for flying the Confederate flag? Maybe you are, I tend to think most people are at least a little bit racist. We tend to treat racism as if it were an exception to the love and harmony we share as people in a nation that resembles a coke commercial. We do not live in that world. We live in a place stained by generations of institutionalized racism that continues to foster inequity in education, economic opportunity and in glaring, searing injustice in our justice system.
Racism is not an exception. It is a living, breathing organism in our society that permeates to our very core. It is a monster that we did not individually create and are individually powerless to stop. It goes well beyond a celebrity secretly caught saying the "N" word or some college fraternity singing drunken, racist songs. But this is what we like to focus on because it makes these issues seem smaller and more easily manageable, instead of what they are, gigantic messes that have no easy fixes and require a level of inward assessment that most people will never attempt, because it is painful and difficult.
I imagine most people who fly the confederate flag, for whatever reason, don't really think about institutional racism or the legacy of inequity when doing so. They probably think that they are good people who do nice things for others, maybe they are. They probably think they can fly the flag because it is their right to do so, it is. They may think they are honoring their ancestors, I could speak volumes to my disagreement with this but that is another post entirely. Maybe they just want to hear Skynard play Free Bird, well so do I, as long as I never have to Hear Sweet Home Alabama again!
If you fly the confederate flag, let me admit, I don't get it. Most of my relatives who were in the US at the time of civil war were confederates, but I am not a southerner. I am a westerner and not one given to romantic notions of how the past was somehow better. What I would ask of anyone who flies the flag is to really think about their reasoning and consider other perspectives.
The confederate flag may be a point of ancestral pride to some but to others is a frightening reminder of slavery, intimidation, segregation and lynching. It is frightening to many, who have a core visceral reaction to the very sight of the stars and bars. It is a reminder of a terrible ancestral legacy to those who watched the flag used first for the confederacy and then co-opted by the KKK and other groups who sought to intimidate black people, Jewish people, Asians people, Latinos, immigrants and even Catholics.
Maybe those who fly the confederate flag are trying to rehabilitate it as a symbol. Maybe, like with African Americans who use the "N" word, they are trying to put some kind of good spin on an inanimate thing that has been used to for the purposes of evil. If this is the case, I offer the same argument I would to those attempting to rehab the "N" word. Words and symbols have power, they have legacies and meanings. We did not create these legacies and meanings, we cannot change them.
My personal hope is that the confederate flag would die to history, just like the "N" word. Does this mean that I believe people who fly it are bad? No! I have met people who said the most ignorant things and yet, when it came down to it, showed the deepest levels of human compassion. I have seen people who talk about helping others on a large scale yet ignore the suffering of those right in front of them. Life is too long and complicated for labels that fit into facebook memes or for simple solutions to deeply rooted problems.
As for allowing the confederate flag to fly on government property. Let me first admit that I loved my General Lee toy car and Boss Hogg action figure as a child, I still wonder what happened to them.
The flag of the Confederacy was the flag of a nation that began in open rebellion with the United States of America. This was in essence the flag of a self declared nation at war with the United States. In this vein of logic the confederate flag would be on par with the flags of Britain, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, North Korea and the Ottoman Empire.
As to the heritage argument. Yes many people have ancestors who fought for the confederate nation and live in the 11 states that formed this nation. We also have several states that were a part of Mexico until they were lost during the Mexican American war. There are many people living in the United States who are descendants of Mexican veterans of the Mexican American War. Imagine the uproar if a state decided to fly the Mexican flag on official government property, let alone any preposterous attempts to fly the official flag of the Ottoman Empire.
Beyond these arguments, there is a human one. The government, as flawed as it is, is supposed to represent all people. Openly endorsing a symbol that is so deeply offensive to a large portion of the population falls far short of this aim. So yes, it is your right to fly the Confederate flag on your scale model General Lee or rock the stars and bars on that old Skynard t-shirt, but no, this is not the same as flying the flag high on the grounds of a state capitol, it is not the same at all.
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