Random Thoughts on Unrandom Tragedy and Violence
We interrupt our regularly scheduled leadership interview series to speak on this fraught moment in the United States. Protest—non-violent and violent—spreads like wildfire through the country, unleashing pent up rage at injustice and the gnawing feeling of just-us-ness.
After the pandemic lockdown forced us indoors, statistics arose relaying the reality of disparate impact of COVID-19 on black Americans.
Now images of callous, even casual murder—does that bastard actually have his hands in his pocket as he knees the life out of George Floyd?—of black men by current and former law enforcement officials paints a stark picture of the disparate treatment of black citizens by those charged to serve and protect, but who have too often made deadly exceptions when it comes to people of darker hue.
No pretty pictures will be brought to bear in this post, just black type on a white backdrop and a black question mark.
Within me, anger and sadness battle for supremacy. Duke Ellington’s “Melancholia” wafts in and out of my mind, washing over my insides as I try to find a place in my heart for Le’Andria Johnson’s “Better Days (Are Coming).”
A woman who identifies with whiteness weaponizes her “race,” gender and status, calling 911 with pseudo-fright on Chris Cooper, a black male bird-watcher in Central Park who made a reasonable request according to the rules of that location: “Please leash your dog.: “A black man is threatening my life!” was her faux accusation.
Thank goodness Mr. Cooper had the presence of mind to tape the incident. I wouldn’t be surprised if she, a moral flea, considered herself a “liberal.”
#BirdWatchingWhileBlack
Jogger Ahmaud Arbery, shot dead in Brunswick, GA, an hour away from where my father and other black American relatives live.
#JoggingWhileBlack
Breonna Taylor gunned down in her own home in Louisville, Kentucky, minding her own business, asleep in bed with her boyfriend, who upon hearing the door being broken down, protected home and hearth from armed intruders by unloading his registered gun. They indeed were armed intruders, plain clothed police using a “no knock” warrant. They supposedly believed that drug dealers were using the apartment to receive packages. Taylor, a 26-year young EMT worker is dead, a bright future ended tragically.
#SleepingWhileBlack
When we take in consideration the history of the nation, where black folks were scapegoats against whom violence could be committed with impunity and immunity from judicial consequence, is their any wonder why a siege mentality arises, erupting in protest and rebellion?
Good and Bad Leadership
In moments of crisis, leaders can point the way forward and upward. Cops have been joining the marches, kneeling with protesters. This is light that shines through the ice blue darkness, a most welcome breach of the blue wall of silence among police. The sight of the murderer former cop Derek Chauvin(ist) suffocating the life out of George Floyd was too far beyond the pale. Yes, this and worse has happened in the past, with police officers using lethal force on citizens of color, but that blue wall was impregnable. But after all these decades of undue over-use of lethal force, now, finally, officers are speaking out. Bad apples among them, some realize, can truly spoil the bunch, and further damage their reputation, their integrity, their attempt to forge true connections in and with the communities they are charged to serve and protect.
In my adopted home state of Connecticut, police chiefs are pointing the way forward and upward: "As Law Enforcement Officers, we recognize that the behavior in these videos reflect failures in police tactics, judgement and training," declared Keith L. Mello, Milford Police Chief and President of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association in a Greater Hartford CT Patch story. "Of equal concern is the lack of intervention by other officers on the scene. We are reminded that we are leaders in our communities, especially during a time of crisis. Our oath and our ethics require us to act whenever we are witnessing an unjust act, even by another police officer. [Emphasis added]
"Unfortunately these actions in Minnesota erode the layers of trust, confidence and goodwill that so many of you have built within your communities, especially those who lead agencies in fragile communities," Mello added in the CPCA's statement. "Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, this is the foundation of our profession. Any violation of these core tenets is inexcusable. ‘Every day, Every Incident Matters.’”
Stamford Police Chief Timothy Shaw agrees. "The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis is very disturbing and there is no excuse for the actions of the Officers. . . I would like to assure the residents of Stamford that we are just as disappointed as you are and do not want the behavior of those officers to affect the relationship we have built within our community. We will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standard," Shaw said.
For a clear and present example of bad leadership look no further than the Oval Office. Some support him not because they are necessarily racists, but because they see him as a bulwark against the threat of China and the so-called Deep State. Though the threat from China is real, and the deep state a conspiracy hypothesis, I say to all of them: HORSESHIT. The person holding the highest office in the land is a DISGRACE to the very office of the presidency and a pox on our national image and standing in the world.
(Tell us what you really feel next time, Greg.)
More elegant—and less scatological—in his critique of Trump’s irresponsible tweets advocating violence against rebellious protesters is Jelani Cobb in the current issue of the New Yorker. I’ll give Jelani the last word:
A Presidential threat to have the United States military shoot civilians is the opposite of leadership, the antithesis of wisdom—a comment as ill-advised and as detrimental to the public well-being as recommending injecting disinfectant or self-prescribing hydroxychloroquine.
—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker