Baltimore, my hometown
Wow, it's been a long, long day and I really need to go to bed, but there's so much roiling in my mind.
On one hand-- on a personal level, it hurts my heart to see what is happening in my hometown. The neighborhoods being hurt most by the unrest are the neighborhoods most in need of help. There are people whose homes and livelihoods are rubble. That is so painful to see. I hate that so many turned their anger onto those in their own communities. I am somewhat buoyed by the fact that so many community leaders stepped up to attempt to turn that tide.
On the other-- this was bound to happen. That's just a fact. You can't take a group of people, force them into a broken system that tells them in every way that their lives mean less than other lives (from systemically unequal schooling to racist policing, straight to the for-profit prisons), and then have an absolute expectation of peace when it's time to protest. That's nonsensical to the point of patent absurdity. Long-simmering rage over mistreatment mixed with opportunism will only get you a powderkeg. White folks regularly riot over sportsball-- mix any exploitable upheaval in with a genuine grievance, and shit is GONNA go down. (You also can't bottle up teenagers who are already keyed up, prevent them from going home on their buses, show up in riot gear, and expect peace. Why isn't that common sense?)
Not to mention, we can't hold others to standards we ourselves have failed to meet time and time again, from this nation's founding straight up to today's wars. We say violence isn't the answer, but our police force is decked out in the most over-the-top paramilitary gear available. Our war budget outspends our educational budget by a gobsmacking ratio. If we truly believe violence isn't the answer, then maybe we should change our behavior to fit our alleged values, enh?
The double standards with which white people view unrest in the black community are ridiculous. We will line up to see the Hunger Games, cry when Rue is murdered because of a corrupt and brutal system, cheer on Katniss (a white Katniss, the only kind of Katniss the studio asked to audition), and then turn around and call what's happening in our own backyards the work of "animals." As though the institutional inequalities that inner city black folks have had thrust upon them are anything short of horrifyingly dystopian.
We nod our heads as our friends and neighbors and family members use racist dogwhistles to condemn the unrest, as though it were somehow representative of all black people, and then turn around and stammer "but not ALL cops!" Like, critical thinking, how does it work?
We wring our hands over our rights being abridged (sometimes this is founded in fact, and sometimes it's just fearmongering, concocted by the loonies at Fox for ratings), but then bend ourselves into pretzels to justify extrajudicial murder. "Innocent until proven guilty!" we cry, unless the skin color is wrong. We cheer for white movie stars with spotty drug histories (especially the ones on superhero lunchboxes), but pretend a rap sheet justifies the murder of a black man. We cherry pick who deserves rights. That's not what freedom is. You can't have it both ways, or you're a damn hypocrite.
We act like things are more important than lives.
I just keep thinking-- what if that was my kid they murdered? My kid that had his larynx crushed and his spine severed by cops that thought they had the right to punish a non-combative suspect? By cops with a long and well-documented history of extrajudicial punishments and brutality? What if it was your kid? Would you or I protest peacefully?
I might not loot a store, but I can tell you with absolute certainty I would not be peaceful about it. (Come to think of it, I sincerely doubt that those Real American Patriots who think bullets will solve problems would feel much different if it was their kid, so at least we have that in common.)
So tonight, as I go to sleep, I have two hearts. One that is aching for those whose lives have been impacted by today's violence. And another that understands that violence, even if I don't condone it.
We cannot keep expecting peace of those we treat with brutality. We cannot wholly condemn those who act in ways that our people have acted for centuries. We should not smugly sneer at the real conflict, while tearfully cheering for it in the cinema.
I hope that peace prevails. I hope that as we rebuild the brick and mortar of the city, we dismantle the racist systems that gave birth to the destruction in the first place.
I love my city. I've heard a lot of people say "Baltimore is better than this." Well, frankly, it isn't-- even though there are so many good people out there working for change, who love and support their neighbors-- our whole social system is fundamentally broken. But I do think we can be better than this-- it's just going to take a lot of work.
Leaving with this lovely, brilliant piece by Ta-nehisi Coates: Nonviolence as Compliance.
Goodnight. I hope tomorrow is better.
On one hand-- on a personal level, it hurts my heart to see what is happening in my hometown. The neighborhoods being hurt most by the unrest are the neighborhoods most in need of help. There are people whose homes and livelihoods are rubble. That is so painful to see. I hate that so many turned their anger onto those in their own communities. I am somewhat buoyed by the fact that so many community leaders stepped up to attempt to turn that tide.
On the other-- this was bound to happen. That's just a fact. You can't take a group of people, force them into a broken system that tells them in every way that their lives mean less than other lives (from systemically unequal schooling to racist policing, straight to the for-profit prisons), and then have an absolute expectation of peace when it's time to protest. That's nonsensical to the point of patent absurdity. Long-simmering rage over mistreatment mixed with opportunism will only get you a powderkeg. White folks regularly riot over sportsball-- mix any exploitable upheaval in with a genuine grievance, and shit is GONNA go down. (You also can't bottle up teenagers who are already keyed up, prevent them from going home on their buses, show up in riot gear, and expect peace. Why isn't that common sense?)
Not to mention, we can't hold others to standards we ourselves have failed to meet time and time again, from this nation's founding straight up to today's wars. We say violence isn't the answer, but our police force is decked out in the most over-the-top paramilitary gear available. Our war budget outspends our educational budget by a gobsmacking ratio. If we truly believe violence isn't the answer, then maybe we should change our behavior to fit our alleged values, enh?
The double standards with which white people view unrest in the black community are ridiculous. We will line up to see the Hunger Games, cry when Rue is murdered because of a corrupt and brutal system, cheer on Katniss (a white Katniss, the only kind of Katniss the studio asked to audition), and then turn around and call what's happening in our own backyards the work of "animals." As though the institutional inequalities that inner city black folks have had thrust upon them are anything short of horrifyingly dystopian.
We nod our heads as our friends and neighbors and family members use racist dogwhistles to condemn the unrest, as though it were somehow representative of all black people, and then turn around and stammer "but not ALL cops!" Like, critical thinking, how does it work?
We wring our hands over our rights being abridged (sometimes this is founded in fact, and sometimes it's just fearmongering, concocted by the loonies at Fox for ratings), but then bend ourselves into pretzels to justify extrajudicial murder. "Innocent until proven guilty!" we cry, unless the skin color is wrong. We cheer for white movie stars with spotty drug histories (especially the ones on superhero lunchboxes), but pretend a rap sheet justifies the murder of a black man. We cherry pick who deserves rights. That's not what freedom is. You can't have it both ways, or you're a damn hypocrite.
We act like things are more important than lives.
I just keep thinking-- what if that was my kid they murdered? My kid that had his larynx crushed and his spine severed by cops that thought they had the right to punish a non-combative suspect? By cops with a long and well-documented history of extrajudicial punishments and brutality? What if it was your kid? Would you or I protest peacefully?
I might not loot a store, but I can tell you with absolute certainty I would not be peaceful about it. (Come to think of it, I sincerely doubt that those Real American Patriots who think bullets will solve problems would feel much different if it was their kid, so at least we have that in common.)
So tonight, as I go to sleep, I have two hearts. One that is aching for those whose lives have been impacted by today's violence. And another that understands that violence, even if I don't condone it.
We cannot keep expecting peace of those we treat with brutality. We cannot wholly condemn those who act in ways that our people have acted for centuries. We should not smugly sneer at the real conflict, while tearfully cheering for it in the cinema.
I hope that peace prevails. I hope that as we rebuild the brick and mortar of the city, we dismantle the racist systems that gave birth to the destruction in the first place.
I love my city. I've heard a lot of people say "Baltimore is better than this." Well, frankly, it isn't-- even though there are so many good people out there working for change, who love and support their neighbors-- our whole social system is fundamentally broken. But I do think we can be better than this-- it's just going to take a lot of work.
Leaving with this lovely, brilliant piece by Ta-nehisi Coates: Nonviolence as Compliance.
Goodnight. I hope tomorrow is better.