Life in America is starting to get clearer, as odd as that may sound. Violence and the virus seem to be cleaning out the choking smoke of political confusion and ethical ambiguity that’s stymied for decades America’s will to improve. Biased law enforcement has finally cast a moral spotlight on the sick and ugly heart of racism in our country. And the Supreme Court has moved logically, though trepidatiously, in the direction of “Equal Justice Under Law,” a motto carved in stone on its building.
We are beginning to see how dangerous our culture has become when our leaders cast a shadow of the worst of our national character so all can see. This moment of teetering on the abyss of social madness might also be the beginning of a time to heal the cultural gangrene of xenophobia, racism and homophobia that’s plagued our people for more than 200 years.
The uncommon shape of sanity is silhouetted on a backdrop of a politicized pandemic running out of control in states governed by a political party that denies the validity of science, the same people who’ve allowed global warming to run wild and who have with their bigotry sparked a cleansing expression of outrage that will no longer be silenced.
Sometimes life gets clearer. In this pandemic, for instance, many of us won’t go into a place of business if we see someone not wearing a mask. It’s clear cut. We value our lives over their stupidity or the selfishness of their politics. I won’t go into a store, either, in which I see someone wearing a handgun or carrying an automatic weapon. I just won’t do it. I value my life over their politics and crazy egos. It’s getting to be not too far a stretch for Americans to understand that the Second Amendment does not guarantee gun owners the right to intimidate fellow citizens with weapons at public protests, such as the one in Old Town last week over the removal a statue of Juan de Oñate. A protester might not have been shot if New Mexico would pass a law that said no one can threaten the peace by carrying firearms of any kind in public. Simple as that. In other words, own your firepower but keep it at home under lock and key. The Second Amendment allows us to “keep and bear Arms;” it says nothing of using or displaying them.
In the last weeks, we’ve seen a much clearer way to clean the rot from police departments than the endless uproar and turmoil that would surely be let loose by the so called “disbanding” of law enforcement agencies. The solution to homicide by cop has been obvious all along. Fire the officers who kill citizens without taking every possible step not to, and charge them with murder, as has been done in Minneapolis and Louisville. And make it mandatory, as Albuquerque’s Mayor Tim Keller has proposed, that mental health and social welfare professionals be a part of the process of any conflict resolution so it doesn’t fall solely on the increasingly militarized police who must face the daily and inherent threat of a society armed to the teeth.
We might also be understanding that the tyranny of prejudice is not unlike the public health disaster of climate change. It pervades everything and worsens all ills, especially those burdening communities of color who bear a disproportionate vulnerability because of pervasive environmental racism.
It’s more than just a demonic coincidence that the pestilence of coronavirus and the pestilence of Jim Crow cops can both result in suffocation. Black Americans are more than three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than white Americans, according to the The Guardian. The moral and cultural suffocation that comes from racism and other forms of domestic terrorism attacking people of color in our country sets them up for physical abuse by cops that literally stops their breathing.
Accompanying Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s recent L.A. Times op-ed were images of Chicago protesters wearing surgical masks that quoted George Floyd’s final words “I Can’t Breathe” on them. In effect, that this is what it’s like to be on the edge of death. And that’s where so many of our people have been for such a horribly long time. It’s tame in comparison, but stepping out into the searing, wildfire-polluted air of the climate-changed Southwest these days brings home the reality of “I can’t breathe” in ways more direct than metaphor, especially if you have asthma, a medical condition more prevalent in communities of color.
In less than two weeks, we have also seen the suffocating impact of the chokehold of homophobia loosened in startling ways by the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, applies to gay and transgender persons in the workplace. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a 6-3 majority opinion, “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.” Everybody is a human being worthy of equal justice under law.
And the Court gave breathing room for a moment at least to some 800,000 young “Dreamers” who came to this country as minors and have been allowed, under certain conditions, to remain here, work and gain permanent residency.
They are protected by President Obama’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program, or DACA, which President Trump has tried to rescind through executive order without “a reasoned explanation” for his action. The Trump administration can go after DACA again, Chief Justice Roberts said in his consenting opinion, but it has to give the American people a good reason to do so, a reason presumably beyond that of bigotry and xenophobia.
Is it possible that over these last four unprecedented months of coronavirus and outrageous police violence that America is finally waking up to the presence of its shadow? In Jungian psychology, the shadow is the sinister part of the ego. When the ego thinks too highly of itself and shines light on its inflated self-worth, it casts a shadow of its hidden and dangerous unseen desires. Is this what President Trump and his ponderous ego have unwittingly done? Has our complacency been replaced with disgust at what his ego has shown us? If that is happening, then true healing does, indeed, have a chance to begin.
*Nullius in verba: take nobody’s word for it
We are in a war of values that could go either way. I think it is true that the pandemic, and then the killing of George Floyd (one more on a long list of white policemen murdering unarmed Black men), have awakened us to a deeper realization of the dangers of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other ills in our society. Those who bully us with their neo-fascist mandates and laws grow more entrenched but also more alone. Those of us who fight back, who will not allow our lives and values to be taken from us, are resisting in ways not seen in recent times. This is the time when keeping up the fight is more important than ever.
This is a great piece, Barrett! I agree, may the healing begin! Thanks for writing it and continuing to persevere in shining a light to call out the shadow.
This article is solid and articulate. It points to the challenges and hopes of cultivating a kinder culture as a result of the fallout from Covid-19, the Trump debacle, and the surge for addressing the need for racial equality. “Enforcing the Law” and being humane, Even compassionate, is a hugely complex issue. The author is somewhat idealistic when he references the need for social workers or counselors to accompany police as they respond to calls that might involve unstable, aggressive people (including the cops themselves.). To have such an arrangement where everyone has the same mindset is assuming a lot.
However, a certain amount of optimism is not a bad thing when looking at conditions that, unless handled with a real sense of justice for all, might result in tremendous social and economic upheaval. We have reason to be wary of the future.
Clearly, the author recognizes that we as a society are at a crossroads.
Hopefully, we will choose the path of dignity, equality and compassion, or at the very least a road that will eventually get us there.