~a column by Colleen O’Brien
What it comes down to is this. Most of us, so often, do not do the right thing. Especially if we’re in power. When I look at history, or not even that far – how about just to the head of the department I worked in? The teacher making fun of me in class because I said “human bean” instead of “human being”? My own yelling at my children for being such, well, children? – a little power goes right to our own little bean brains.
In our era of constant coverage of all things violent, I also see a welcome share of ordinaries doing extraordinary things. And I see folks with power – lots of power or even just a minute of power — showing their scowls, badges, raised fists, raised batons, blaming, pushing, knocking people down, hitting, spraying, looting, setting vehicles and buildings on fire. Oh, and killing a human being while being videoed and with one hand in pocket.
In fact, I see those with real power doing more heinous things than those with momentary power – taking a knee to a man’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds – isn’t that much worse than wrecking a building?
Isn’t tossing tear gas or its equivalent much worse than yelling, “Down with cops!”?
We watch, and we are horrified. About different things, depending on our experience, background, compassion and fear. That isn’t new.
But this time there is a difference.
The best thing to come out of this particular violent time is something I’ve not seen since watching the first televised killings by cops in the 1965 “Watts Riots” in Los Angeles. I lived in California at the time, in an old suburb of San Diego, which was next to the black section called Lincoln Heights. My husband was in Vietnam, I lived alone, and I was pregnant with my first child.
Block upon block of rioting in LA was shown, and I watched, mesmerized by killings in California, where I was, instead of the usual deaths in Communist Southeast Asia that made me afraid for my husband.
I was not afraid then, there, perhaps because there was nothing on TV about any rioting in San Diego. That kind of news has the power to incite, as we know.
What’s happening now is that people from both sides – protestors against police brutality, and the police themselves – are daring to talk to the other side. Just a little bit of agreement, as we’ve seen with cops walking with protestors, cops taking the knee with protestors, protestors shaking hands with cops, cops resisting their military training (“kill if afraid”), protestors honoring their dead and still marching with hope on their faces.
Could this be the beginning of true reform, of kindness to fellow humans of different color, disposition, background, language, religion, neighborhood?
Protestors showing up with tire irons and spray paint, police showing up with weapons and Darth Vader outfits – really, there will be no reconciliation with that kind of bravado, hostility and self-righteousness. But seeing both sides giving an inch gives me hope. I hope it gives black people hope. They have been dashed down so many times in a culture that allows attacking, backs it, shows up with tanks and tear gasto perpetuate it.
All people have fears of other people. Such a pity that humans have embraced this stance and acted on it for our entire recorded history. Just a little bit of agreement goes a lot further than even a tiny bit of brutality.
Once again, the curse of “living in interesting times” is upon us. But this time, after all the “interesting” times of our bloody past . . . oh, wouldn’t it be something if this time were different?
