The right to live free of harassment
At no time do I have a greater sense of my own privilege than when I go running at night. For convenience, I often choose a nearby 55and- older community built around a golf course — it’s well- lit and there isn’t much traffic, making it an ideal location.
Nowhere along my route am I concerned that someone will call the police and report me as suspicious. Even if someone did, I would not worry about then getting arrested, or maybe shot. I, a middle- aged white man, am going to be viewed as a potential neighbor and get the benefit of the doubt there, as well as most of the rest of America.
What that upper- class neighborhood shows more than anything is how far apart many black and white Americans remain in their everyday lives. Connecticut, a northern state that consistently votes Democratic, continues to be highly segregated, with neighborhood composition in some areas that has barely budged in decades. Any chance of easing racial tensions must resolve that reality.
Recent weeks have been a continuous case study in people across America who don’t get the benefit of the doubt that people like me receive. They can be taking part in any activity, from sitting in their living room to walking down the street. They could be watching birds in Central Park, or out for a run in broad daylight. Occasionally they’re involved in the kind of petty crime that might merit a fine, but instead results in their deaths. Black Americans, nearly everywhere in this country, are too often not permitted the right to go about their lives, or even sleep in their beds, free of harassment or worse.
This can seem like an insurmountable problem; it’s one this country has dealt with since long before its founding. But a throwing up of the hands does nothing for anyone. There are changes we could make at the local level that would at least start to ease racial tension, and it requires viewing people you might otherwise see only on the news as your neighbors and colleagues. This is why diversity in housing and schools is so important and why it’s a battle that continues to be fought in 2020.
Though the state is a close match for national demographic figures, the reality is that people of different races don’t tend to live in proximity to one another. And since public schools are dependent on local property lines, children grow up separated from people of other races, and the cycle continues.
Among the consequences of centuries of systemic racism in this country is that black families have amassed on average a fraction of the wealth of white families. The effect is that diversity is only possible by allowing and encouraging affordable housing in otherwise exclusive communities. Rather than support this initiative, Connecticut politicians from both parties have weakened statutes meant to encourage such development, to the point that today most affordable housing is built in a few places that already have plenty of it, and people in need are shut out of everywhere else.
Housing diversity requires new construction. But existing residents complain about decreased property values. They talk about the character of their town, as if new and different residents will put that in jeopardy. Sometimes they take more novel approaches, like the weaponization of inland wetlands commissions — watch how often concerns about flooding are raised to block new housing.
Changing these trends doesn’t solve everything. Minneapolis has diversity, which didn’t save George Floyd’s life, to say nothing of New York City and its long history of racial unrest. Connecticut, too, has been the scene of incidents that could easily have put our state on the national radar as the focus of protests. We are not close to immune from what we see on the news happening here.
Tempting as it is to think voting out the president would solve all this, no one should be so naive. Police enforcement is an overwhelmingly local issue, and leaders of both parties are to blame for where the issue stands today. And while we should make widespread changes — ending the availability of military gear for police forces seems like a good start — the biggest changes will happen on the granular level.
The privileges granted to me by virtue of being a white man in this country are nothing I asked for, but it would be foolish to think they don’t exist. The greatest privilege of all is the right to live a life free of harassment, abuse or worse, and that’s all anyone in the streets is seeking. It can’t be too much to ask.