When did Fire and Looting become Un-American?
There is nothing un-American about a bit of fire and looting to motivate needed change. Consider our American founders and the Revolutionary War — a call to arms and bloody conflict along with plenty of documented fires and looting over human rights violations demonstrably less onerous than those black Americans have been subjected to for hundreds of years. And let’s not forget that the British regulars were the legal peacekeepers of that era.
Even the non-violent methods of Martin Luther King Jr. and others were only effective in the light of the threat of actual violence. More plainly — non-violence was persuasive precisely as a contrast to the possibility of real violence. If the powers that existed during the birth of civil rights in America had not thought there was any actual threat of violence, it is hard to believe that any change would have taken place.
The historical record reveals that precious little change is bought without blood.
The real problem we are having is that change — real change in America requires the ruling white class (I am a white male) to not just share power, but to give it up. We live in an environment rigged to favor a certain color and lineage and leveling the playing field means going beyond adding a few token “seats at the table”. It means asking those left out how we need to reshape the rules to remove white advantage — it means embracing and working toward a world in which there is no advantage to being white. It means giving up our place of privilege in recognition that the deck has been rigged and deliberately reshaping our society on a new principle of fairness and inclusion designed by those we have oppressed.
This means reparations must accompany apologies for slavery and Jim Crow and resignations must accompany acknowledgments of unfair advantages. This is a hard truth that even sympathetic white people don’t want to hear, but it is exactly what we would expect if a court were to find that we had been robbed of property or position by theft or lies. We would expect restitution and restoration.
I heard a simplistic white politician remonstrate that Martin Luther King’s death met with less protest than George Floyd’s. What this individual does not understand is that Mr. Floyd is a symbol for the millions of non-white Americans that have been oppressed by this racism — his death is significant — not only for its own unique circumstance but as an illustration of what has happened over and over and over again throughout our history.
Just think back to the recent repression and repercussions that came to the professional athletes who dared step out of line and spoil the familiar comfort of our Sunday gladiatorial football contests with the very peaceful and respectful Take the Knee protests of recent memory. Don’t be naïve — we weren’t defending the flag or patriotism — we were mad because our gladiators had gotten uppity and spoiled our weekend fun with hard truths.
I believe this with all my heart — if legislation can’t compel and if peaceful persuasion fails to prevent the unwarranted and ongoing deaths of black men (and others) at the hands of those we have entrusted with the keeping of the peace, then let strategic violence have its day. I would consider it more honor to fight in such a revolution than to have fought beside Washington or to have stood with Jefferson.
There isn’t an individual among us who hasn’t felt the thrill of watching a movie where the bully gets his due. I was a particular fan of Alias, the early 2000’s spy thriller featuring Jennifer Garner in the role of Sydney Bristow, an undercover CIA agent. There was nothing more satisfying than watching her righteously kick ass when men who were both criminals and misogynists sought to take advantage of her perceived weakness as a woman. I shed no tears when such brutes were left bleeding upon the ground.
Don’t get me wrong (and many of you will), I am no fan of violence, but if violence stops a rape or a murder, I’ll take it over allowing the rape or murder. I hope I would have the courage to rush in and knock any policeman over that endangered the life of a man as we witnessed with George Floyd. To refuse to rescue is to be complicit in the murder. To my black brothers and sister — I am sorry no one did that — it is what should have been done and was not because we have become sheep.
If we are actually serious about avoiding violence — the violence of the police and of angry white Americans as well as the violence of protests and riots — then let’s get to the business of changing the way business is done in America.
Let’s put together a human rights charter and refuse to support any candidate for office that does not demonstrate a whole-hearted, full-throated, and well-documented history of standing up and speaking up for the oppressed whether they be black, Hispanic, woman, LBGLT, or Muslim. I don’t have to agree with an individual’s credo or conduct to honor their beauty and inherent dignity as a human.
Let’s demand policing that reflects the demographic makeup of the communities they are serving and let’s require that officers spend 10 hours of training in diffusing and de-escalating situations for every 10 minutes they spend learning to use a gun or a taser.
Let’s calculate the debt owed to black Americans and find ways to start paying it back — not as a condescension, but in a genuine “I’m sorry, I was wrong, justice demands this” sort of way.
Here are a few ideas even a complicit white man can think of:
1. Free college for all descendants of American Slaves
2. All publicly supported institutions should reflect a racial and gender makeup that is roughly equivalent to the makeup of the American population (at minimum)
3. Calculation of all the unpaid wages with interest and adjusted for inflation of American Slaves made available to their descendants to dispense of on their own terms
4. Revamping of lending policies, college entrance requirements and other upward mobility factors by majority committees of oppressed individuals (black, Hispanic, etc.)
And yes — I would happily take on an extra tax burden to contribute to these just measures. Though I may not have lived during the American slave era, I enjoy wealth and privilege today as a result of the ways that my ancestors plundered slaves — this is a self-evident truth to all but those still hoodwinked by their own racism.
I’m sure my ideas can be bested by those we have oppressed, and I am not so naïve to think that measures like this make everything better, but it is a place to start — a place with meaning more than mere words and a place that is only just and what we would want if our own lands, lives, and futures had been taken from us.
Oh, wait — when England tried to do that, we fought a bloody revolutionary war as our retort and enshrined the men who pulled the trigger in the monuments, parks, and revered halls of our history.
It is disingenuous and profoundly un-American to deny that right to others whose afflictions are at least as egregious. Black lives matter — I believe that is worth living and even dying for.
