The Reaction to America's Racism

This column is being distributed two days ahead of the usual Wednesday schedule. Simply wagging our fingers at the violence is legitimate, but not helpful. America’s racism has again come home to roost. Wendy has distributed a list of 75 things white people can do. The continual pain of our black sisters and brothers, and their cries of anguish, must be heard. Standing with them is more than just sentimental. Whatever we must do publicly still requires masks and appropriate social distancing.
Charles

THE REACTION TO AMERICA’S RACISM

These weekly columns are sketched a month ahead, and continually revised and rewritten until until they are proofread by two friends and finally sent to my various lists and outlets. So today’s proposed column has been ready for circulation. It was to be a list of suggestions that have come from readers about ways to stay sane while the isolation continues.

And then comes the murder of George Floyd, and the reaction of ordinary people, black activists and radical young people--–both liberals and conservatives as well as white racists, agents provacteurs. While the passionate response is both expected and understandable, torching businesses is certainly counter-productive, especially when the businesses burned and ransacked are black- owned and operated. One suspects that some of the out-of-town activists there were right-wing racists. Before judging the black activists and their white supporters, we bystanders must allow the passion and hurt continually experienced in this racist society. The murder that set off the reaction is simply the most recent fatal felony perpetrated by the police.

I was on the front row of the “police riot” in Chicago’s Grant Park in 1968.
It was clear that the options of the police were limited. What were they to do when a thousand angry students and others were intent on charging the Democratic Partyconvention, and continuing the action in what they called,”the days of rage.” But given the options, the police acted in the worst possible way with bullets—rubber and real, pepper spray, tear gas and nightsticks. I was tear-gassed together with those around me, and that only exacerbated the anger.

What do you expect when the police murder another unarmed black man? It has long been clear that the right to protest is a guaranteed extension of the First Amendment. What should people do with their righteous anger? Those of us who oppose violence in every form are caught in an impossible dilemma. We are committed to support the anger let loose by the murder, yet we cannot understand the violent nature of much of the reaction. Perhaps the value of looting escapes me just because I am white.

Perhaps Tania Tetlow, the President of Loyola University in New Orleans, has said it best.

For African Americans, that grinding fear is a tax our nation has placed upon them every day for the last 400 years. Parents must teach their children constant awareness that white America might find them to be a threat, even as they reach for a toy. Teenagers must learn the skills of excruciating politeness and slow movements in front of the police officers meant to protect them. Adults know that they can be attacked by strangers in “self-defense” while jogging, bird-watching or even sleeping in their own beds. Our only progress seems to be to remember the names of the lives lost, not to make the killing stop.

Fox News and other nationalistic outlets can only focus on the most destructive nature of the reaction, clearly consistent with the right-wing’s political agenda. But their failure to see what has fueled the explosion is unexplainable. I doubt if the American people will quickly come to terms with the racism that not only murdered George Floyd, but also threatens every black man or woman who dares step out of his or her house. Since I am not black, I cannot really understand the depths of the anger.