Black Lives Matter
I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t even turn on the news anymore. I’ve felt for several years, and I still do that the 24-hour news cycle is killing this country. No, this isn’t a diatribe against the media. True, they can be blamed for a lot of things, but we all can. It’s not the media causing all of this fighting.
I’m a white guy. I won’t pretend to understand what it’s like to be a person of color in America. The stuff I see when I do catch the news or on social media scares the hell out of me. I’ve always thought I’ve been on the right side of history by not being openly racist, but today, that’s simply not enough. I’m about to use a phrase that, when used by a white person, is nearly exclusively followed by a racist statement, but I promise not to go in that direction. I have a lot of black friends. There’s no but coming now. It’s just that I never took it as far as to imagine my life through their eyes. There was never a day where I feared calling the cops to assist with some problem I was facing because when they arrived they might arrest (or shoot) me. It’s something I’m thinking more and more about these days. I’m just curious how to be a better ally so our society can be one that I’m proud to leave for my kids.
There are a lot of people I know—people I love—who think the Black Lives Matter movement is an exercise in hypocrisy and that it’s only broadening the divide in this country. In fact, just reading those words makes them red in the face. “All Lives Matter,” they argue. They do. They really do. That’s why when our black brothers and sisters are being murdered and nothing is done, protests happen, and the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is needed. I wish I could convince these people that Black Lives Matter does not mean Only Black Lives Matter. It means Black Lives Matter Too.
This round of arguing sprung up again this weekend. Cannon Hinnant, a 5-year-old white boy who was about to start kindergarten, was murdered by a black man. “You don’t see the white folks rioting in the streets,” I heard many of my Facebook “friends” proclaim. It gave them just the fuel they needed to feed their confirmation bias. But consider this. Was the murderer caught? Immediately. Was he arrested? Yes. Will he serve the rest of his life in prison? Assuredly. THAT’S why there’s no rioting in the streets. Justice was served, as it was designed, but this doesn’t happen the same for people of color, and that fact flies right over the heads of those same Facebook “friends.” Perhaps because they aren’t smart enough to figure it out, but more likely because admitting it would make them uncomfortable. Do I even need to bring up Breonna Taylor? Her murderers still haven’t been arrested, over five months after her death.
I watched George Floyd get murdered, and I was sickened as nearly all who witnessed it. I couldn’t finish looking at the screen. I didn’t want to see a man die in front of me. I came home and started sketching, and this cartoon was born:
© Frank Nix 2020
Now, it’s foolish to think that the President is responsible for Floyd’s murder. That’s a simplification. However, his response to the Black Lives Matter movement is nearly as sickening as Floyd’s death. His constant deflections and focus on Colin Kaepernick or any other sports star kneeling during the anthem is tiresome. But Trump is clever. He knows what he’s doing. By placing the focus on the flag and the troops and all that jingoism, he’s deflecting it from the topic that he and any policy maker wants to avoid. Race relations are tough in this country, and it’s easier to argue about a flag than to understand why people are kneeling. Further, they’d never want to delve into that conversation, because that would require some eventual change.
I understand that Donald Trump is only one man, and there are many others out there who are cruel and corrupt, and possibly more to blame, but when the man in the most powerful office in the country is endorsed by David Duke and the KKK, and the president goes on to call white supremacists “fine people,” I think this shoe fits. Sadly, it’s a golf shoe, and he’s probably on the course right now instead of leading this country.
Edit: Just after writing this, another black man, Jacob Blake, was shot in the back seven times by police is Wisconsin. It’s a complicated issue. My conservative friends point to Blake’s criminal record. My liberal friends feel like this is just the same song, different verse. Even reports of the shooting have varying details. Some witnesses heard police say something like “drop the knife,” others claim he was breaking up a domestic dispute and there was no weapon at all. Luckily, Blake lived, but he must live the rest of his life as a paraplegic. Once again, protests arose, and the response to them was more violence. The government and officials used to be shy about using open force against protesters in fear of being caught on camera. With each of these events, that fear is lessening and the government is using a heavier hand. What can we do to stop this vicious cycle?
