Are We Listening?

A Virus Humanizes Us

A lot has been going on recently. It just seems like there has been a perfect storm that has reached a breaking point. We have covid that has been going on for months now.  Everybody has been extremely frustrated with the regulations and quarantine.  Everybody’s been cooped up in their houses and  eager to return to  friends, family, and regain some sense of their humanity by communing with the ones that they love. Without restriction and without worry about spreading the potentially deadly disease to the very people that we cherish most.

These are legitimate concerns. There is a lot of death in this world already as a result of this virus. A lot of senseless losses that many feel could have been avoided if only it was handled differently. But a virus knows no Injustice. It does not discriminate on the basis of race. It only discriminates on whether or not the proteins on its surface matches the proteins on your cells. And as we can see from the whole world being infected, many people of various races share these proteins on their cell surface. This just goes to show that we’re all human beings first! The virus KNOWS that. We should too. Who would have thought? 

A Beautiful Soul

With this backdrop, George Floyd is a beautiful soul that senselessly lost his life due to racial discrimination.  No virus took him. No medical disease. But a knee to his neck.  Just to reveal the bias of my perspective, I am a white person and therefore enjoy white privilege. More specifically, my background is Lebanese. However I am white enough to enjoy white privilege.

I don’t have to worry about being pulled out of my car on suspicion of using counterfeit money when I’m just minding my own business.  I don’t have to be scared that this traffic stop could be the most dangerous minutes of my life. No one follows me in stores because a security guard thinks I might steal something. My dreams of medical school have not been dismissed by teachers and counselors who think that my dreams are too grand based off the color of my skin. 

And yet this is a reality for many American citizens. I don’t know what to make of it. This takes a toll on the human psyche and our collective consciousness. 

Firstly, it takes a toll from African Americans of this country.  Imagine how much talent has been oppressed and thrown away because of daily reminders that people expect nothing but trouble from you and that you will always be inferior and therefore hated without being known for who you are as a person. 

Second, it takes another toll on white Americans who cannot even fathom what this kind of lifestyle would even feel like. That instantaneous persecution simply for existing is simply unimaginable by most.

Finally, it takes the greatest toll from how great America can be if we put racism to rest and enjoy the fruits of all the talents that we have to bare from every race in this country.

A Wondrous Child

When I was a child I learned in school that America is considered the great melting pot of the world. The understanding was that we have races from every country joining together as one unit. How great are we as a nation to enjoy such cultural diversity! We should be in utter gratitude that we live in such a prolific society!

In many ways, this is true.  However it’s ironic. It’s interesting to me that up until now I have not seen much “melting” in our melting pot.  It seems to me that our melting pot is somehow sectioned off.  Which is a fascinating accomplishment by its own right. I have never seen a melting pot that does not allow its contents to mix and infuse one another to create harmonious and often delicious flavors. Yet we’ve somehow managed to prevent the melting pot from performing its natural function. 

Are We Listening?

Are we listening?  Can we listen?  Or are we too desensitized?  We see everything going on in this country now because we haven’t been listening.  And now they are yelling out!  Much like a body that gives subtle signs that something is wrong and needs correction. However it is consistently ignored until the body grabs your attention by force!

George Floyd was an unwilling martyr for the movement of equality.  I worry that like so many before him, people will become desensitized to the systemic problems once enough time has passed.  We will quite honestly get frustrated that nothing has been done, yet again.  Or not enough was done. Or that we just talked up a storm and no real change took place. And then we relegate ourselves to, “oh well” until the next life is needlessly taken from us. How terrible to simplify a human life in that manner!  

People are fighting for change in policy.  Which is all well and good in my opinion.  There needs to be policy changes in my opinion.  However the first policies that need to be addressed are the ones within ourselves.  

Personal Policies

The first personal policy change:

“We must listen first, act second.”  The rally’s and protests that are occurring have reached a fevered pitch!  Why do you think that is?  Because they have been crying out from injustice for decades and even centuries!  

The second personal policy change:

“Be mindful of automatic thoughts.”  I unfortunately have to battle racist thoughts in my own mind.  Why?  Where do they come from?  I was not born with these thoughts in my mind.  But spending time on this Earth will condition us through small and seemingly inconsequential experiences. 

The next time I experience a racist thought, I first need to realize that this may not be my own thought.  Second, I need to look for what triggered the thought to occur.  And finally I need to disassemble that trigger so that it no longer has the power to control me.  This is hard and I often don’t feel like doing it. But it is NECESSARY and it is WHAT I MUST GO THROUGH so that I can CHOOSE to act the way I WANT to act towards another human being.  

The third personal policy change:

“Bridge the divide, and even tear it down!”  Open the dialogue.  Why does  dialogue even matter? Because the more we talk to each other the more we realize that we are one in the same. There is an Nguni Bantu term known as “Ubuntu”.  When I first heard this word, I thought of the Linux operating system. That just goes to show my white privilege. However I’ve come to find out that this operating system was so named with purpose; A cultural education I was blind to until this point.  

“Ubuntu” speaks to our interconnectedness with one another.  I am you and you are me.  Therefore, logically, I see myself in you.  The Golden Rule touches on this a little bit, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  However taking that extra step to recognize that you are in others is pivotal.  We are all one.  There may be different shapes, sizes, bodies, and color.  However we are simultaneously separate and whole.  Without the other, we cannot be.  

The fourth personal policy change:

“Do NOT let George Floyd’s death be in vain.”  This goes for his predecessors as well.  I am not naive enough to think there will not be followers.  George stands for all those that have passed and all those that will come to pass.  There is a system at work here which has gathered considerable momentum over the years.  A herculean effort will be required to stop it and institute change that is beneficial towards complete harmony. 

It will take considerable self-reflection on the part of those with white privilege because we don’t often know something is wrong unless we tap into our capacity for empathy.  This simple, albeit difficult, act comes back to ubuntu.  Because what happens to them is actually happening to me.  And when something happens to us, we realize how complicit we have been.  

I don’t know if these personal policies will affect any sort of change on a societal level.  However these are a few legacies George Floyd has left me.  I’m sure I will learn much more as time goes on.