Last night I was watching Conan O'Brian and really liked hearing what some of his black guests had to say. The first guy, Sam Richardson, is an actor and writer who was born in Detroit but his family is from Ghana and he has spent time there. Conan visited Ghana and he acted as a guide. The second interview I saw was with Van Jones, a news commentator and author. Both men talked very plainly about the expectations of black men. Frankly it was pretty depressing. Both these guys are obviously well educated and successful but given an interaction with police neither was optimistic. Their expectation of interactions with just everyday white people is a bit better but it sure wasn't great. Of course we have people who are openly anti-Semantic, anti-Latino and anti-Asian as well. It's downright depressing for me.
Of course demonstrations against something like the Floyd murder are perfectly justified. It is the riots and looting are a problem. I've got no idea how much the police presence influences the marchers; much less how a demonstration turns into a riot. Clearly there is antagonism at the simple presence of the police but, after all, their job is to keep order. It seems to be a question of how much violence is acceptable on both sides and at the moment both sides seem to be going too far. I've never marched in a peaceful demonstration much less participated in a riot. Bottom line, I'm just confused.
Keep on washing those hands and if you are interested check out the Conan links. Take care!
1 comment:
Well Don, I have been in enough protests and demonstrations to fill both our quotas. Always as peaceful as we were allowed to be, usually loud, never violent. If people have something to say but are ignored then their only option is to speak louder until they are heard. If I were an American I would certainly be joining the peaceful protests. The people causing the damage have their own agendas, usually nothing to do with the protest and certainly not supported by the vast majority of protesters who have a grievance that must be heard.
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