Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just wanna watch the world burn. —– Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight
This “project”, if you will, began as a means for me to release all of the negative emotions that have been building in me for far longer than most could wrap their minds around. As with the situation that sparked this more concentrated focus, the narrative has transformed into something else entirely.
As I type these opening words, I am resisting the urge to turn on the TV, to open up another tab on my laptop so that I can check out my Facebook feed, to check out the Twitter and Google News alerts on my phone.
Last night, Minneapolis and St. Paul burned anew. As I watched what unfolded live on TV, riots erupted in other cities across the US. Scrolling through Facebook, checking out posts from family, friends, colleagues; the emotion is palpable, the tension is THICK, the FEAR… The FEAR has firmly embedded its talons into MANY.
An intended coping mechanism for me has now morphed into at least three distinct, yet intertwined topics:
- A commentary on “Race” Relations in the US through MY eyes, SOLELY based on MY personal experiences.
- A commentary on Human Nature based on the same.
- A documentary on the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer just 5 days ago.
Moving forward, I’m going to jump around from topic to topic. If I’m good, I’ll be able to focus primarily on one topic for each post that I hit. I’m not gonna lie, though… Some posts will touch more than one; hell, they may inspire more topics as I move along. Those of you who choose to stick around and discover where my head and heart happen to be will just have to adjust.
My intention with these pieces is to educate; not as a teacher in a classroom who has books and lesson plans with a specific intent to cover the topic at hand but from a place of Empathy. Part of the goal is to Connect with people… MY People in an effort to find Commonality as Human Beings. The key to doing this is for BOTH PARTIES to agree on meeting in the middle then to DO THE ACTUAL WORK. It’s NOT meant to be easy. It’s NOT meant to be painless. It’s meant to be a deconstruction of what you believe. IT’S MEANT TO CHALLENGE WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW. If your heart is in the right place, I GUARANTEE that it’s MORE THAN worth it.
Time to focus… I’m going to address what I saw as a common theme in MANY of the threads that I saw in the Facebook feeds of my Caucasian acquaintances, friends and colleagues yesterday: the outrage and confusion over the violence and destruction of property.
I’m going to preface this by saying (and I can’t presume to say that I am a representative speaking for everyone involved): MANY OF THOSE WHO HAVE HAD NO INTENTION OTHER THAN TO PROTEST PEACEFULLY IN MR. FLOYD’S HONOR AND MEMORY DREADED WHAT THIS SITUATION HAS DEGENERATED INTO. Despite the despair, despite the Rage, their hearts have been in the right place and their focus has been on JUSTICE. Many of you that are focusing on the chaos and destruction have allowed your outrage about these things to cloud THAT particular message. Many of you have resorted to using the rioting as a crutch to say Well… They don’t REALLY want justice after all. They just want a reason, an excuse to fuck shit up.
There’s a LOT of anger out there. Years of being followed around when you go to big-ticket department stores. Years of people looking at you suspiciously when you walk down the street. Years of watching Caucasian women clutch their purses a little tighter, if they don’t outright cross the street when they see you. Years of damn near everyone in the restaurant stopping what they’re doing and staring at you as if you are living proof that extraterrestrials exist when you walk in to take a seat. There’s resentment, fury that’s been building in the very souls of so-called “racial minorities” for CENTURIES in this country.
I COULD start touching on the systemic issues, but people far better qualified and educated on the history should speak to those… Again, MY purpose is to speak from the heart.
When your voice isn’t heard, when people ignore you, when people tell you to Sit down, shut up and KNOW YOUR PLACE! when you’re expressing that THEY ARE HURTING YOU, there’s a STRONG tendency to do what EVERY HUMAN BEING LEARNED TO DO AS CHILDREN:
You lash out. You scream at the top of your lungs until you’re heard.
When the efforts to stifle your pleas, to ignore your pain persist, you take the next step:
YOU START FIGHTING, YOU START BREAKING SHIT.
Is it right? NOBODY with love in their heart believes that it’s right. But I need you to STOP HURTING ME! And if this is going to be the vehicle that makes that happen, SO BE IT. If you’ve TAUGHT ME that this is the only way to stop the pain, what else can you expect?
We, as a species, act like children ALL. OF. THE. TIME.
What you need to try to wrap your head around is the fact that, YES… THESE RIOTS ARE essentially tantrums. Tantrums that THE SYSTEM KEEPS CHOOSING TO EXACERBATE WITH INACTION. Instead of focusing on The Cause, you’re CHOOSING to focus on The Symptom. Instead of trying to understand, you’re CHOOSING to ignore the catalyst and focus on the horrors THAT YOU FEEL about what you’re witnessing. You’re not empathizing: YOU ARE JUDGING. You aren’t attempting to understand, YOU ARE PUTTING YOURSELF INTO A POSITION OF MORAL SUPERIORITY. Think about how YOU feel whenever it’s clear that someone is treating you the same way; when someone is looking down their nose at you as if they are BETTER THAN YOU.
But let’s bring it back. I can already see that there is the STRONG possibility that I’m going to lose some of you because you’re taking what I’m saying personally and won’t step outside of your own feelings of being appalled.
I’M NOT CONDONING THE RIOTING. I’M NOT SAYING THAT IT’S RIGHT. I’M SAYING THAT I UNDERSTAND. I believe that I’m qualified to say that I GET IT in ways that those of you that haven’t lived my experience will never comprehend.
I’m not mad at you for your lack of having MY experience. I AM disappointed and frustrated that MANY of you won’t even bother to hear me out… TRULY, with an open heart and mind, hear what I have to say.
But there’s another issue at play here. A not-so-secret player has made their presence felt, further adding to the deflection; further contributing to the volatility. Every time an incident such as Mr. Floyd’s murder sparks protests, they make a point of infiltrating those gatherings:
The Looters. The Arsonists. The Anarchists. The White Supremacists.
Pay attention, guys. THEY are the reason for my quote above. THEY are the reason that things have gotten as ugly as they have. I’ve seen video upon video upon video of Caucasians that have come here that are CLEARLY not about peaceful protest. They are not here to honor the memory of Mr. Floyd. They are not here in solidarity over police brutality. They are not here in the name of Social Equality for all. Now, don’t get me wrong… There are PLENTY of Black people that have been involved in the looting – but I’m seeing that these people that are starting fires, that have been caught on private video AND through broadcast news here in MN are CAUCASIAN.
Subverting the narrative. Destroying infrastructure. Destroying minority-owned businesses and literally starting dumpster fires to put the people in those communities out on the streets… To destroy their livelihoods… Corrupting and drowning out the TRUE purpose for the protests to begin with.
THEY’RE TELLING US THAT OUR MESSAGE DOESN’T MATTER. THAT WE DON’T MATTER.
Worse still, a LOT of people are embracing the false narratives that these outside groups are telling: THAT THE PEACEFUL PROTESTERS, THE RIOTERS AND THE ANARCHIST ARE ALL ONE COHESIVE, UNIFIED GROUP. They’re paying just enough attention to confirm their narrative about what’s going on. They don’t care to notice the GOOD that’s happened… Where the COMMUNITY has come together to try to clean up during the days. They don’t bother to notice the clips of these outside players coming in to do what they do. They’re content to just sit back and judge because they can’t be bothered to open their eyes and take a closer look; they can’t be bothered to open their minds in order to see a different perspective; they can’t be bothered to open up their hearts in order to acknowledge that Humanity is in turmoil.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m NOT a religious guy by ANY stretch of the imagination. But I know this much:
As we head into Memorial Day, more of them ARE coming. What was meant to honor the memory of a man whose life ended too soon over some nonsense has literally turned into all-out war. This weekend is NOT going to be pretty.
If you’re a praying person, pray that the assholes that have chosen to play their cards get SWIFTLY put in their places.
HUMANITY DOES NOT NEED THEIR KIND TO EXIST.
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