This week has been full of very sad news. A 46 year old black man named George Floyd was killed by a white policeeman in Minneapolis--not shot but asphixiated by pressure of a knee on his neck for over 8 minutes, several of them after he had stopped saying "I can't breathe"and had gone limp. Three other policemen stood by watching and not stopping the killing. After a few days, the first policeman has been indicted for manslaughter; the assumption is that there will be charges for the others as well.
As a result, there have been marches and protests in many cities across the US; some have turned into riots and looting. President Trump's initial reaction was, as always, to tweet--this time with an incendiary "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." This was a phrase stated by a Miami police chief after racial riots many years ago. The President said he didn't know where he had gotten the phrase and later he defended it saying that shooting results when there is looting not that he was promoting it. He also said he would send in the National Guard and he called the Minneapolis mayor weak--his usual insults. Later he threatened "vicious dogs" sent at the White House protesters--again a reference to the dogs called on protesters during the Civil Rights demonstrations years ago.
In many cities and states the National Guard has been called in. There are curfews tonight. It makes me remember the riots of 1968 when gas stations were closed lest folks get gas to make bombs. That was a terrible time and this threatens to be like it. We shall see what happens in the next few days.
This all follows after other incidents in the last week like the white woman in NYC's Central Park who called 911 when a black man who was birding asked her to leash her dog, saying she was threatened by an African-American man. And this horrible Covid 19 virus has impacted black citizens more than white--with disease and death but also economic hardships. People are on edge and angry and frustrated.
Facebook is full of posts saying that if you as a white person say nothing, you are also guilty of white supremacy. People are suggesting books to read and leaders to follow and places to give money. But what is there to say? I know I am priviliged and I am sorry my world is as white as it is. I have given to some causes (Hope Ministries, Robin Hood in NYC, the hunger ministry at church) and could research others. I have not reposted or shared the posts of others. I have not marched in local protests.
My world was not always so white. My daily work before retirement brought me into a world of diversity in which I was still priviliged and in a position of power to a certain extent as the teacher of adult education students. Sometimes, when I would ask for maintenance or assistance from those who ran our Housing Authority site, I felt as if I, a white woman, was unheard or ignored. Or maybe it was not me at all but just systemic problems in the bureaucracy there. I know I often felt that there was anger very close to the surface in many of my students and sometimes marveled that we got along as well as we did.
I am pleased to be Facebook friends with former students and in some cases, colleagues, who are of other races and I try to encourage them--as they encourage me with their "likes." I grieve for the sadness in our country right now and I grieve for the lack of empathetic leadership in the White House. I think about President Obama's singing Amazing Grace in the church in Charleston and the contrast is painful. Or President Bush's standing at the site of the 9-11 disaster and saying "I can hear you." President Trump tonight blamed the governors for being weak--he called them jerks for not putting down the demonstrations in their states.
I rarely write in this blog about anything but my personal life. But this is a historic time and a time of crisis and our lives are full of tragic news. I watched that knee on George Floyd's neck too many times on TV videos and began to have to turn my eyes away. But I shouldn't turn my attention away--none of us should. It can't be ignored.
------------A week later--there have been protests in many cities for several nights now. There has been looting. The ugliest scene was the demonstrators in Lafayette Park next to the White House being tear gassed and dispersed so President Trump could walk to the steps of St. John's Episcopal Church and stand holding a Bible. That scene makes me sick inside. The bishop in DC and staff of the church protested later. He wanted a photo op and he got one but for many like me it has shown how unBiblical is his approach.
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