Dystopian Spring

I’m having flashbacks. Flashbacks to other times of social unrest that I’ve lived through.

In the 1960s there were scores of race riots, especially in the summers of ‘64 and ‘67 and after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. The 1970s saw protests and riots over school busing; the Vietnam War; Native Americans’ occupation of Wounded Knee, SD; and other issues. In the early ‘90s racial tensions exploded in “South Central” Los Angeles and elsewhere after the acquittal of Rodney King’s police assailants.

Research shows that there have been significant riots somewhere in our country virtually every year of my life. All of them were related to social justice issues – usually race-related – and the reasons are understandable: when a large segment of the population feels powerless and disenfranchised, a single incident (such as MLK’s assassination) can cause the anger to erupt.

In this dystopian spring of 2020, however, the unrest stemmed from not one but a series of incidents captured on video: a white woman calling 911 because a black man had asked her to leash her dog; the stalking and killing of jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia; and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. This trifecta of racial hostilities has affected me deeply. It has somehow made me aware as never before of the insidious effect of white privilege – the invisible and unwarranted advantage that I am given simply because I am not a “person of color.”

White privilege enables me and those whose skin matches mine to go through life without being racially profiled and unfairly stereotyped. White privilege leads to unconscious bias and to outright racism when that bias turns into action. And white privilege, I submit, underlay the three recent incidents. In each one, a beneficiary of white privilege infringed on the rights and dignity of a person of color. And in the third, white law enforcement officers seem to have forgotten that their duty is to protect and serve.

The violence and rioting that began after George Floyd’s death and spread to other cities is an understandable reaction to years of frustration and hurt. But violence and rioting won’t solve anything. While nonviolent protests raise the public’s awareness of injustice, violence is itself unjust. It puts innocent people at risk and undermines the message that America should operate on a higher ethical plane.

There are a few things we of the majority can do to help achieve true equality and justice. First, we must remain aware of how white privilege affects our lives and those of others and make every effort to be all-inclusive in our words and deeds.

Second, we must hold our public officials accountable, especially those at the state and local level. It is the police chiefs, sheriffs, city and county council members, mayors, and members of state legislatures who have the greatest effect on the criminal justice system.

Third, we must write those officials, engage them in dialog during public forums, and through peaceful protests make our feelings known.

Fourth, we must work to elect people who are “woke” – that is, willing to challenge problematic norms, systemic injustice, and the status quo.

Finally, we must remember that all of us are equally entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This has been recognized since the Age of Enlightenment in the 1600s. Ironically, that’s about the time when slavery began in America. ■