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| Image from http://getequal.org |
These are preliminary thoughts, really, as I continue to process it all...
It
has been fascinating, and at times disheartening, to see how the protests in
Baltimore are being covered in the mainstream media. The focus seems to be on
“riots” with looting by the few, rather than on the tens of thousands of
peaceful protesters. But though it would be easy to praise the “peaceful
protesters” and condemn the “rioters”, I think it is appropriate to pause and
take stock.
In
a 1966 interview, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I think that
we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it
that America has failed to hear?” Though King spoke these words almost a half
century ago, we can ask the same question today. What are the riots in
Baltimore saying? What is America not hearing?
One
thing I think the riots are saying is that we should be outraged by police
brutality against unarmed persons, disproportionately against unarmed African
Americans. I do think people are starting to hear that clear message, and to
feel the outrage. However, I worry – based on mainstream media coverage and, to
some extent, what I see on social media – that many white Americans are more
outraged by riots than by police brutality against unarmed black persons.
This
is all in a fascinating juxtaposition with the current Supreme Court case about
same sex marriage. There is still plenty of opposition to same sex marriage and
to LGTBQ rights, but I don’t see the same sensationalistic coverage. I don’t
see – on mainstream media or on social media – the same level of fear and
condemnation around this issue, which has come so very far in such a short
time. Sure, there are a few people acting like civilization will fall if same
sex marriage becomes the law of the land, but the polls show that most
Americans are ready for it. Of course, the current face of the LGBTQ movement is
very tied in with the “politics of respectability”. Marriage itself is an
amazingly mainstream and respectable institution, after all.
It
might be tempting to think that “the politics of respectability” is the way to
move a cause forward. But though I personally, like King, advocate peaceful
protests and not rioting, I cannot fail to notice that riots do speak, and they
speak loudly. I saw a graphic on social media that said “Remember: the first Gay
Pride was a riot”, referring to the Stonewall riots of June 1969. There is a lesson
here, I believe.
The
Stonewall riots happened in New York City in response to the LGBTQ community
(particularly gay men in this case) being targeted, harassed, and treated violently
by police. These were the days when the LGBTQ community could barely dream of
same sex marriage becoming legal; this was back when the battle was more basic.
The battle was for the right not to be roughed up and arrested for being a
“queer”. Back in June of 1969, a group of gay men, transgender persons, and at
least one lesbian had simply had enough. The police came in to raid the Stonewall
Inn, a popular LGBTQ hangout, but this time those being arrested fought back.
This means that members of the LGBTQ community were, in this case, physically
fighting officers of the law. It was a “riot”. And yet, many people now
consider it to be the single most important event in the modern “gay rights”
movement. The “politics of respectability” were a long way off, in those days.
I
keep coming back to those words: “If you want peace, work for justice”. This is
one lesson of riots. If you don’t like seeing riots – and I can tell you that I
personally do not like seeing riots – then work for justice.
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| My photo from the April 29 Boston rally in support of Baltimore protesters. |
Another
lesson of riots? People demand –rightly – justice from the “justice system”.
When our system of justice fails? Nothing is more likely to trigger rioting.
And our justice system fails all too often. Consider that in 2014, according to
the ACLU, African
Americans made up 29% of Maryland’s population, yet they comprised 69% of those
who “died at the hands of police”. Consider also that 1/3 of residents in
Maryland state prisons are from the City of Baltimore. (See the article at
http://afsc.org/story/baltimore-racism-and-mass-incarceration) Consider that African Americans
are incarcerated at shocking rates. The rate at which African Americans are
imprisoned has even been called “the new Jim Crow”. According to the US Bureau
of Justice Statistics (BJS), non-Hispanic blacks accounted for about 40% of the
total prison and jail population in 2009 – when they were about 12% of the
population overall. Also according to the BJS, “one in three black men can
expect to go to prison in their lifetime”. (See
the article at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/
)
In “The
Other America”, a speech delivered by Martin Luther King in 1968, just two
weeks before his assassination, he said: “… I would be the first to say that I
am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most
potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of
view.… But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn
riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same
time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our
society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that
they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get
attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
And what is it America has failed to hear? … It has failed to hear that the
promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear
that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and
the status quo than about justice and humanity.”
The
riots in Baltimore are saying just that. Further, as King wrote in his last
essay (“A Testament of Hope”, published posthumously): “…. there is no single
answer to the plight of the American Negro…. I think that the place to start,
however, is in the area of human relations, and especially in the area of
community-police relations. This is a sensitive and touchy problem that has
rarely been adequately emphasized. Virtually every riot has begun from some
police action. If you try to tell the people in most Negro communities that the
police are their friends, they just laugh at you. Obviously, something
desperately needs to be done to correct this…. In the larger sense, police must
cease being occupation troops in the ghetto and start protecting its residents.”
In 1968,
the LGBTQ community probably also would have (in King’s words) laughed at you
if you tried to tell them that “the police are their friends”. But things have greatly
improved in that regard for the “queer community” (of which I am a part). Today,
I pray that the Supreme Court will take LGBTQ rights even further, to the
(unimaginable in 1968!) triumph of marriage equality. And I will certainly
celebrate when that day comes, hopefully soon.
But I
also want to listen to what the riots in Baltimore are telling us: that things desperately
need to change, and fast. Lives are at stake. And Black Lives Matter.
