Hello from my kitchen island,
Let me be as up front as possible. This is a politically-motivated post. It is where I stand on things in our cultural morass we call America. It is my opinion, and I know there are other valid opinions out there and those who will disagree with me (even some in my family, whom I love deeply). It has happened; these opinions have caused some to delete me as a friend, block me I imagine, and have caused me to block someone I considered important when they called me out of the blue and started swearing and screaming at me over the phone. With that as a pre-statement, one might ask why would I choose to write? and that is a fair question . . . debate, argument, and expression are hallmarks of democracy. I believe this. Passion is needed, but so is respect. Struggle for consensus is necessary for freedom to prevail. Standing up to tyranny and injustice can appear as disregard for the rule of law . . . our founders knew and experienced this. History and the rationale for action is written by the victors, and that has happened throughout history. Listening to the defeated, the mistreated, the disenfranchised, or the other is not only necessary to understand a story, it is justice personified. So . . . if you prefer to stop reading, I can accept that, but if you are able and willing to read on, I offer this caveat . . . I am not brilliant; I am not omnipotent; I am not without my own short-sightedness. Yet, I do work diligently to see beyond my narrowness, my ineptitude, and my own failings. So with that I commence.
Let me begin with an experience I had a few weeks ago. I was walking down a main artery or street barely off the “Main Street” in my little college town (pop. 12,000 or so without students). It was 10:30 in the morning and a typical Spring day. Someone was walking behind me, but I had no idea who it was. I reached into my jacket to get out my AirPods, and he jumped out into the middle of the street. He was maybe 10 feet behind me at the time, so his movement startled me . . . when he realized I was only reaching for AirPods, he apologized, and said my reaching into my pocket when he was so close frightened him. He was a young black man. I apologized as did he again, and we went about our days. The remainder of the day, I could not get our interaction out of my head. Life experience had taught him to recoil when someone reaches in their pocket, and perhaps even more so when it is a white man. Stunning!! I had no ability to anticipate his response, but even in a small rural town, not in his perhaps inner-city experience, he still walked around feeling a need to protect himself from someone else. Certainly some could, and will, argue that is his fault, not mine, but I will respectfully and strenuously disagree. If what life (the media, other peoples’ experiences, and our current national attitudes) has dealt him elicits such a response on a small town street in broad daylight, we have a problem. Again, before you dismiss him, allow me to offer some analogous situation. How many females are afraid to walk alone because of what has happened to a friend, an acquaintance, a family member, or even their own experiences? How many carry mace or pepper spray, even in broad daylight? How is it different? I do not believe it is.
The number of incidences we are aware of are probably only minuscule compared to the actual events that occur daily in our country where the other responds out of fear or concern to daily happenings that as a older white male I have no conceptual reality of. Perhaps two and a half years ago I was involved in a faculty reading group where the book choice was the incredibly difficult book, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. It forced me to speak about things that made me uncomfortable; it compelled me to look at situations where my white privilege (and I know some do not like to encounter this term) provides me a different basic living experience than black, brown, or AAPI people must face on a daily basis. While I could point to some currently obvious examples, perhaps it is more appropriate to consider some that are not as apparent. One of the things I believe COVID has done is open-wide the curtain of much of the inequality of our current nation. From health care to education, from technology to economic opportunities, many from the inner city to rural America struggle to be able to manage in our technologically dependent world. I regularly hear people who want to shun the use of all things electronic (from smartphones to credit cards), but reality is such an existence is not very feasible. During the height of our COVID asynchronous remote/Zoomed process, I had to return to purchasing internet from the only provider in the area. The cost of their services are outrageous, and though I can afford them, which is itself a privilege, I had not choice but to re-enlist their services to manage teaching my courses. Almost 20% of the student body where I teach did not have access to sufficient internet. Simply stated, they could not participate in an adequate manner to engage their class work. Without going into all the statistics, I have done enough meaningful research to see these issue disproportionately affect those who have less economic opportunities or technological availability than others. The digital divide is real
Perhaps it is the division and the divisive nature that seems to permeate all with you that so concerns me. I wish someone could explain to me how we got to the point that disagreement becomes only anger and anger becomes hate. In the actions of people, who seem consumed by hate (and fear) create the Sandy Hooks, the Buffalos, the Uvaldes and literally the hundreds of shootings that characterize our “UNiTED” States. How incredibly foolish and sad we have become. And then I wonder what a young black man is frightened when I reach into my pocket? Of course, I should not.be the least bit surprised. More importantly, I should be aware. I was not even that. The Honorable Senator Chris Murphy was recorded in a poignant and soul-searching Senate floor address last evening that I shared on my Facebook feed. What I wish I might have been able to see is how those, who believe any common sense restriction on guns assails the 2nd Amendment, reacted. What was the look on their faces or did they simply roll their collective 2nd Amendment protective eyes and ignore what seemed to be honesty and disbelief? Difference and debate are human qualities and reasonable elements of any society. As a book I’ve used in my first year writing classes is titled Everything’s an Argument. I do believe this is true, but again as I ask my students, what is the goal of an argument. If you immediately think it is to win, I will respectfully disagree with you. Argument is about fact, and fact is about creating consensus. Unfortunately, there is probably no area upon which we might find any modicum of agreement in our current national consciousness. Instead it is more likely that if someone is not fearful, they are angry, and generally they are angry because they are fearful. And often fear, contrary to the basis of argument is not based on fact. It is irrational. Please know that I realize this is not always the case.
At this point, the Tucker Carlsons or Sean Hannitys on one side or the Rachel Maddows and John Stewarts on the other seem content to lob IEDs toward the other. It would be interesting to put them together on a show and see if anything might get accomplished. Can anyone explain hate and anger to a degree that one will drive 200 miles to kill black men women, and children? Can anyone explain to me why such things as common sense when it comes to law, the second amendment, which I am not against, and possible restrictions on certain types of weapons and magazines is so abhorrent? Any questioning of our past or coming to terms with some of our less than stellar ways of creating the American fabric are argued to merely be the cancelation of something. It is not that simple. Our inequity has consequence. If there were not the case, a young black person, a student trying to go to college in a small rural white town would not need to jump into the street in broad daylight. I have experienced the grandeur of Monument Avenue in Richmond, and to be completely honest, I am not 100% comfortable with the removal of the statuary what was the Confederate Capitol. Do I believe there could be another way to be honest about the various artifact that have been removed? I do, and part of that might be some kind of walking tour and commentary that explains the consequences of the actions of these generals, politicians, and others who believed leaving the Union over slavery was reasonable. When black, brown, or other minority students are told not to go out into our little town during Monster Truck weekend or to not walk beyond the fountain, we are compelled to understand what that sort of commentary or directive says about the others of us. Is it true that as a white majority we are afraid of being replaced? I must believe there is more truth to that than I would care to admit. Are we that afraid of the other? Too often, we are.
There are numerous stories I could share here to support this statement. Things my students tell me, from things that might seem benign to things that are flat out racist, generally cause me significant pause. When a shy black girl shares how when she was finally brave enough to go out of her room and even to a social event, and then a perhaps well-meaning white student tell her she is really attractive for a black person . . . what is she to say? What sort of idiotic thoughts or stereotyping happens for someone to make such a statement. When I have heard white folks say in a store in town “all black people look the same (and yes I have heard this), what sort of stupidity allows for such an understanding? When the children of my Dominican family as I refer to them, or my Bengali students are spoken to or approached differently because of their brown skin, when they are discounted because of their accent, what are we doing? The pain that occurs when two incredibly talented and hard working colleagues are sitting on the street for dinner and someone comes across two lanes of traffic to holler at them because they are not white. These are the daily things I experience as a professor at a university that hopes to promote diversity, I am not saying the University has not done some important things, but too often it seems we white people do not want to be bothered with diversifying or again we are afraid of the consequence.
Much of what is occurring currently, the fighting, the vitriol, the killing, the fear and hate is based on a lie. What is that lie? I am not sure that is easily answered. Much of what is occurring in a world where 18 year olds legally buy semiautomatic weapons with the seeming intent to use them is because we are dishonest with ourselves and with each other. Can we see the other first and foremost as a human wishing to raise their family with hopes and dreams no different than our own? Can be believe there is room for all of us in this land we believe to be democratic where all are equal. We pledge that, but we so often fail to live it. I certainly do not have answers to all of these questions. I also know there are those I love who will disagree with some of this, and I appreciate their opinions, but could we at least talk about it and see where we might have places of agreement? Is it possible we can discuss with respect and the intent of coming to a better place? If we cannot do that, I too am afraid. Afraid that this amazing experiment called America might have failed. I have used this video before, but it seems appropriate again.
If you made it to this point, thank you for reading.
Dr. Martin