Can We Change Now?

This evening I walked into the house and plopped down on the couch to take a short break from weeding.  I stayed there for a while.  My husband was watching PBS News Hour and they were showing all the places in the country where people are protesting and rioting following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.  But it’s about a lot more than that.

Watching all the videos of the violence brought me back to the riots of 1968.  I remember the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.  Kids set fires in the garbage cans at our junior high school; they sent us all home.  I couldn’t understand why people would use violence in response to the assassination of a non-violent man.  I am so much older now and my understanding has changed.

After all these years, what has changed in our country?  We had riots 50+ years ago but what have we learned?  Like many other people, of all races, I was horrified when I saw the video clip of the white police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck.  Why?  Why would someone do this?  So they fired the four officers who were present.  Okay good.  But why weren’t they arrested?  This was clearly murder.  The officer who kneeled on him has been arrested finally but what about the others?  And it was only a few months ago that another black man, Ahmaud Arbery, was murdered while jogging by two white men.

As a white woman, I know I am privileged.  I am shocked and disgusted by these events.  I am learning that people of color react somewhat differently.  This is one more violent act perpetrated on their people; it’s been happening their entire lives.  They are angry.  I can empathize but I can’t truly understand what it is like for them to live in a white dominated system that works against them.  Black parents tell their kids how to behave around white people, especially cops.  One wrong step and they may never come home again.  Activities I take for granted, that I don’t even think about, can be risky if you have dark skin.  I can’t imagine what it is like to live like that.

Multiple cities have had peaceful protests that have erupted into riots with fires, looting, and destruction.  For some, this is pent up anger and this is the only way they have left to get attention.  Peaceful methods have failed.  To make matters worse, infiltrators have been traveling from other states to instigate violence.  There are some reports that they are far right groups, white supremacists, intent on creating chaos and breaking down civil society.

As a non-violent person, I am distressed to see this violence.  I feel for the small businesses who have just barely reopened during this pandemic and now their businesses are gone.  On the other hand, I feel for people who are so oppressed that they feel they have no other option than violence to show how they feel and to demand change.

How do we change this now?  How can we be successful when we have failed so miserably in the past?  How do we end racism?  Can we change hearts and minds?  What do we do?

As a progressive who lives in a very white and conservative state, I struggle with this.  First, we need new leadership in this country.  We need to change systems in this country and it should begin with the President and Congress.  However, it seems that much of what needs to be done is at a local level.  Police departments need to be reorganized and officers should be vetted more carefully.  We need to talk to each other.  We need to listen to each other.  When I have worked on other justice issues, I have learned to sit and listen because I really don’t know what it’s like to walk in the other’s shoes.  We can’t support people and make changes unless we understand what they need from us.

When President Obama was elected, many of us thought we had turned a corner—but it just brought out the racists.  And now President Trump is fanning the flames of hatred.  I pray that we Americans will have the courage and wisdom it takes to turn our country around now, before it’s too late.