MAYBE GENERATION Z CAN HELP US HEAL

“Gen Z is the most diverse generation ever to live in this country. Acceptance, tolerance and social justice are their core values. Not reacting to the recent events would simply be inconsistent with who they are.”

I had a stroke several years ago. I could talk and my brain was fine, but my right arm and leg were out of control.

The U.S. had a stroke last month, when George Floyd died at the hands of a police officer, as three other officers looked on.

My stroke required almost no rehab. America needs lots of it, and Generation Z might be our therapist.

We keep having stroke after stroke after stroke, and this one was so egregious that something might actually get done. The first step is to avoid the state of denial I was in: My brain wasn’t fine.

The flailing arm and leg were symptoms, just like the distrust (or hatred) between police and Black people. All the rehab in the world won’t do much good if our brain keeps getting blood clots.

That’s where Gen Z comes in.

“Gen Z is the most diverse generation ever to live in this country,” said Hana BenShabat, founder of Gen Z Planet, a research firm focused on young people. “Acceptance, tolerance and social justice are their core values. Not reacting to the recent events would simply be inconsistent with who they are.”

The Bay Area is about 50% white now, compared with 86% in 1970, when lots of Baby Boomers were reaching adulthood. You learn an awful lot about people you grow up with. They’re an “us,” not a “them.”

Former Stanford freshman dean Julie LythcottHaims said in an email that Gen Z got her attention because of the leadership students showed after the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. She was particularly impressed at the March for Our Lives rally, when student Emma Gonzalez “was the first human to grab and hold four minutes of silence across radio and television airwaves.”

“That was stunningly powerful in and of itself, but even more amazing, I felt, was that the Parkland kids shared the mike with Black kids in cities where gun violence is a more common occurrence but gets far less attention,” said LythcottHaims, an author whose books include “Real American,” a memoir about growing up Black and biracial.

Teens organized some of June’s major protests: the Golden Gate Bridge, Orange County, a huge one in Nashville. And it was 17yearold Darnella Frazier whose video showed Floyd’s death.

Lots of people — as in older white people who vote in city council elections — have trusted the police, giving officers the benefit of the doubt when they injure or kill civilians. The Floyd video rewired their brains.

More rewiring came during the protests, as people saw officers attack and arrest demonstrators when they should have shown restraint. Like in Buffalo, N.Y., when a peaceful 75yearold white protester was shoved to the ground and seriously injured.

The Buffalo push happened in an instant, but the Minneapolis officers around Floyd had several minutes to intervene. They didn’t. When police officers have a reputation of always backing each other up and not stepping in, no matter what, it erodes the public’s faith — in them, in their unions, in

Hana BenShabat, founder of Gen Z Planet government.

“My research shows that 65 percent of Gen Zers have low trust or no trust in government,” BenShabat said in an email. “And while these numbers are not too different than those of older generations, the striking fact is that Gen Zers in their short lifetime are equally disenchanted.”

How much has changed in a month? Projects like 8 Can’t Wait, which pushes eight police reforms to limit the use of force, might have come across as radical a few weeks ago, but now many see them as not going far enough. Some are backing 8 to Abolition, which would defund police and release many prisoners.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed wants unarmed professionals, not police, to answer calls involving such things as mental health, neighbors’ disputes and school discipline issues.

Police unions from San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles are pushing for national useofforce standards that focus on deescalation, and a national database of officers fired for gross misconduct. They want the system to weed out racist cops.

One other suggestion from many people: Not all officers have to carry guns. Make carrying one a career step, once they’ve proved that they work well with the public, once they’ve gotten more training.

Because of school shootings, Generation Z has grown up understanding how deadly guns can be in the wrong hands. Sometimes those hands belong to a police officer.

When San Franciscan Sean Monterrosa, 22, was killed by police during unrest in Vallejo this month, Police Chief Shawny Williams said the officer thought he saw the butt of a handgun near Monterrosa’s waist, and shot him “due to this perceived threat.” It turned out to be a large hammer.

Rayshard Brooks, shot to death by an Atlanta officer this month, had been asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drivethrough until police came. Our rewired brains might have chosen to send an unarmed officer on that call.

If you’re in Gen Z and are excited about the potential reforms in society, LythcottHaims has a big caveat.

“White Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials have been incensed and outraged about racial injustice before,” said the 52yearold, whose next book is “Your Turn: How to Be an Adult.” “Time will tell whether they continue to support police and societal reform or go back to their regularly scheduled lives.”

Things were supposed to change in 1991, after more than a dozen Los Angeles police officers were disciplined for using excessive force against Rodney King, a 25yearold Black man. Despite a video of his horrific beating, the four officers charged in the attack were acquitted in 1992. People rioted. The most memorable words from the whole tragedy came from King himself, during the riots. “Can we all get along?” he said in a halting voice. “Can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?”

If you’re over 40 and still shudder when you think about the beating and its aftermath, consider this a second chance.

Do better.

Much better.

Getting along today might mean that we don’t call police because we’re unhappy with someone, dragging officers into a silly dispute. They have a tough enough job as it is. It might mean understanding that a $500 fine or $1,000 bail is a nuisance for middleclass people, but devastating for poor ones.

This has been the biggest societal push I’ve ever seen, from things like NASCAR banning Confederate flags to Starbucks creating a Black Lives Matter Tshirt for employees to Consumer Reports — yes, Consumer Reports — having articles like “How to Record Video During a Protest” and “Preparing to Protest: A Beginner’s Guide.”

But momentum can get lost faster than a government can say, “Let’s send this to committee.” So here’s a question for those who support reform: What have you done in the past week? Sure, you may have marched or donated to charity early this month, but what about now?

You don’t rehab from a stroke by working hard for a week and then stopping.

If you’re Black and people reached out to you, did you do anything more than email back and say “thanks”? Follow up as soon as you reasonably can.

If you’re not Black and want to be supportive, do it. Point out ways your company (or police department) can be more diverse. Make sure management honors any pledges or public statements it made during the protests. Support Blackowned businesses.

Don’t make your Black colleagues feel like they always have to lead the way. Every. Single. Time.

Look for changes that will endure rather than a onetime infusion of cash. Sephora, for example, signed a “15 Percent Pledge” to offer more items from Blackowned brands.

If you’re in Generation Z, you might feel powerless over things like climate change because you don’t have political clout. But you have disposable income, which gives you marketing clout. Use it. If you get businesses on your side, it’s amazing how much political clout you will suddenly have.

Educate people, too. “Gen Z is the first generation to have been taught social and emotional learning widely in the public schools,” with an emphasis on inclusiveness, LythcottHaims said. “The media they’ve had access to has featured more authentic stories about people of color and less tokenism than any prior generation.”

Lots of that media is available to all of us. Watch films like “13th” or “Selma,” read “The 1619 Project,” follow diverse people on Twitter. Google “Black reading list.” Look up names like Tamir Rice and Eric Garner and Breonna Taylor. Learn some lessons your teachers might not have taught you.

“Until folks see Black pain and suffering as the equivalent of their own,” LythcottHaims said, “lasting change will not come.”

That’s what makes the Floyd video so powerful. It wasn’t “Suspect Killed by Police.” It was one of us, age 46, just trying to breathe.

Dave Murphy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer who writes the monthly Generations column. Email: dmurphy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @daexmurph