I agree broadly with Rodney Stevens’s thoughts, as expressed in his Wall Street Journal op-ed. After outlining his experiences of growing up in South Carolina in the 1960s he proposes:
First, every life matters. Mine is not one cell more or less valuable than anyone else’s. That this idea has to be debated or defended is lunacy.
Second, racism still exists but it is no longer systemic. Those who claim that racism is everywhere today are delusional.
Third, we tend to think too highly of our individuality. My color, weight, sex and sexual orientation are four of the least interesting things about me. I am a Southerner and love Southern food. Now that is interesting.
Fourth, policemen have to be held accountable for their actions, as is being done more and more.
Fifth, do what law enforcement officers ask you to do. Obviously that won’t solve every problem because policemen are humans, not angels. But that’s part of life. Simply doing what the people in blue ask you to do would drastically reduce needless confrontations, injuries and deaths.
Sixth, if you must talk about race, be gracious and respectful. Discussions about it shouldn’t be antagonistic—one’s race isn’t a choice, after all—but for some reason many popular figures insist on making the subject as unpleasant as possible.
The one quibble I have is that I don’t think that “those who claim that racism is everywhere” are delusional. I think they’ve been radicalized with respect to race. When one has been radicalized with respect to race you inevitably see race as underpinning everything. If you don’t get an “A” in a class, it’s not because you didn’t know the material or didn’t work hard enough, it’s because of your race. A girl won’t go out with you? It’s because of your race. Didn’t get a promotion? Race. That’s the nature of being radicalized with respect to race.
The problem with radicalization is that, since, as Plato observed a couple of millennia ago, the essential virtue in a republic is moderation and radicalization cannot be reconciled with moderation, it is incompatible with living in a republic. That’s the crossroads at which we have arrived.
When we talk about race now, there are only two that seem to matter.
One the oppressed and the other the oppressor. Not good.
This is from an anonymous author but I think this excerpt states the problem well.
“No other group in America is systematically demoralized in this way by its alleged allies. A whole generation of black children are being taught that only by begging and weeping and screaming will they get handouts from guilt-ridden whites. No message will more surely devastate their futures, especially if whites run out of guilt, or indeed if America runs out of whites.”
Notice how police being held accountable is the shortest line? He throws out a lot of straw men here. In fact, the huge majority of people do acknowledge that things are better now. There are a lot of successful black people. But problems still exist and especially with the police , and that holds true for issue other than race. Yes, it is better, but it is still a problem. Data is very good on this. Even the police by their own reporting say they use force needlessly more often against minorities.
Just do what the police say? To an extent yes, but they are OUR public employees. They also have an obligation to treat people with respect. Also, there are videos of people being shot by the police even when they do exactly what there were told.
Be respectful? I wish.
Steve
That’s irrelevant. As long as there’s a minority who are willing to act on their beliefs it’s a problem. The number of Bolsheviks in Russia was never greater than 20% and yet they managed to rule the country for 70 years. We know there’s a minority willing to act. A “huge majority” of the people weren’t responsible for the rioting in Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and elsewhere. The buildings are just as burned out when they’ve been set fire by a minority as when by a majority.
It strikes me that MY being radicalized on subject x, at least as a working definition, requires YOU to prove that x did NOT take place. It shifts both the burden and the sign of the proof.
I think that makes me a radical humanist.
Or, as I have sometimes framed it:
The current situation is intolerable;
It is someone else’s fault;
My solutions are above criticism;
The time for discussion is over.
What human/societal tactics work when everyone has become radicalized? For that is what the internet has done…
Can we solve them in time?
Running down the list……..
“First, every life matters. ………………That this idea has to be debated or defended is lunacy.”
Lunacy indeed, yet that is where we are. I would say its an attitude that has been willfully cultivated.
“Second, racism still exists but it is no longer systemic. Those who claim that racism is everywhere today are delusional.”
Radicalized is probably correct for those who choose only to see white on black racism. After all, they are agenda driven. However, for those who conveniently ignore most all other examples of racism, both here and, notably, abroad, delusional is an apt description. In either circumstance, the notion of a vast and systemic racism here is unbalanced.
“My color, weight, sex and sexual orientation are four of the least interesting things about me.”
It is instructive to note that, almost exclusively, it is the agenda driven who focus maniacally on these traits. The far left would be Exhibit A. As I have noted (and am usually derided), here in S Carolina, arguably the real home of the Confederacy, you hear or witness almost nothing about race or gender etc. The same cannot be said for the liberal hotbeds of Chicago, Detroit or Philadelphia.
“Fourth, policemen have to be held accountable for their actions, as is being done more and more.”
Of course. The selective outrage by many gets old. Who speaks for the 25th black person killed in Chicago on a typical weekend?
“Fifth, do what law enforcement officers ask you to do.”
The vast majority of police shootings, as captured so many times on camera, come after resisting arrest, willfully and often violently. Only the agenda driven make excuses for this. Juxtapose this with the scant concern expressed by these same people for the civil liberties, discriminatory or costly policies related to covid shutdowns and restrictions. It speaks volumes.
“every life matters”
That is a relatively recent and local sentiment. Don’t dismiss it as a given too lightly. If you like the sentiment, even that one needs support.
Subjects of police stops who resist often have warrants requiring immediate arrest.
Is there another alternative?
Ask proof of residence, issue officer summons to report in three days?
Something to chew on . Turn down the heat, ease off on the accelerator toward violence by not making the suspect feel it’s all or nothing.