This is us

Over the past many weeks of coronavirus lockdowns, we have heard or participated in beautiful stories of caring — for friends and strangers alike. But as I write this, protests and riots are burgeoning in cities across America in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer, while other officers looked on nonchalantly.

I saw a protester’s sign that said: “If you are not livid, you are not listening.”

I am not livid. I am heartbroken. I weep not just for the man who died, and all the black men and women before him; I weep for us. I lived in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots, when four white police officers were acquitted of using excessive force while arresting Rodney King. That was almost thirty years ago. The tragedy of this moment, for me, is not that we have made so little progress over thirty years; it is that we have regressed so much.

This is a moment to tell each other how we feel, not how to feel, as the protester’s sign demanded. This is a moment to make space for a range of emotions, and a range of perspectives. This is a moment of sober reflection; this is us.

Resist the temptation to distance yourself by saying: “It’s a few bad apples…” or “Yes, but…”  Resist the temptation to politicize this, just as the pandemic has been politicized. And if you live in another country, resist the temptation to say: “We are not like the Americans,” because the truth is that we all can benefit from reflecting on what kind of society we want to help cultivate — no matter where we live.

Sit in reflection, even if it is uncomfortable. And then start thinking about what you want to do differently.

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Copyright © 2020 Sharon V. Kristjanson. All rights reserved.

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