Smartphones reveal true black experience

Having been born into the race of privilege in America, it’s difficult to comprehend what it means to be black. Even with desegregation, the vast majority of whites and blacks still live in separate worlds, but smartphone videos on social media provide a window through which to better understand the black experience.

The killing of George Floyd was not exceptional, it happens far too often throughout America and much of it is captured on these videos. Yet many of my white acquaintances don’t watch them, maybe because their disturbing content is too difficult to reconcile with the more sanitized and justifiable world in their mind’s eye.

So why has Floyd’s killing sparked such unprecedented public outrage from both the black and white communities? Maybe it was the slow manner in which his life was extinguished before our eyes, but I also believe it was the last component of a perfect storm of civil discontent sowed by a divisive president and the coronavirus.

Certainly Floyd’s killing and others like his are eye-opening if we care to look, but so are the more insidious examples; take for instance, the white woman walking her dog in Central Park, N.Y., who falsely accuses a black birdwatcher of threatening her life or the black patrons arrested without cause at a Philadelphia Starbucks.

How can we effectively right wrongs such as these without fully appreciating the breadth of humiliation, intimidation, and terror facing people of color everyday. White indifference when the truth is right there on our smart devices is unconscionable and ultimately incites the civil unrest we see today.

Another compelling video shows a Glynn County Police officer confronting a young, black man who is parked in plain sight at the edge of a Georgia park. It’s broad daylight and he’s peacefully listening to music on his day off, yet he’s subjected to lengthy, accusatory questioning, a body search, and several attempts to inspect his car without cause. A second officer arrives and without provocation pulls his Taser and shoots the non-threatening man. The gun malfunctions and the man is ultimately left alone.

Any white person subjected to such treatment would have been apoplectic and a lawsuit would likely have followed. But, such recourse is not afforded most blacks because of financial limitations and prejudicial courts. As a consequence, police know they can act with some degree of impunity and if people of color so much as move, they can be gunned down. They have little choice but to bite their tongues and swallow their pride. The harassed man in Glynn County did just that and was thereby granted another two years of life before he was killed while jogging this past February by a retired cop from the same police department and his son. The victim’s name is Ahmaud Arbery.

A common reaction of my white colleagues is that blacks may have cause to be angry, but civil disobedience is not the way to bring about change.

Yet, American history suggests otherwise. The celebrated Boston Tea Party or the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s are just three examples. A great deal of meaningful social change in America has come as an outgrowth of social upheaval. There is fertile ground for progress when virtually every American is unsettled by national events.

When blacks do use more subdued means of protest, white society always finds a way to demonize the messenger and ignore the message. They say it’s inappropriate to deliver an impassioned speech about injustice while accepting an Academy Award or unpatriotic to kneel during the national anthem at an NFL game. White America is particularly incensed when these acts of protest invade the sanctity of their living rooms on television.

Colin Kaepernick did what few Americans have done in our history: He put his lucrative livelihood in jeopardy by speaking out against social injustice. And yet few applauded his enormous courage or discussed his worthy cause, instead they spent all their time criticizing his method. Kaepernick was eventually blacklisted by the NFL and essentially gagged by white society.

If you silence the oppressed too long with subterfuge and apathy, civil unrest will likely erupt. Oppressed people need to be heard. Monroe resident Jeff Gewert, a former Stamford and Sandy Hook resident, has been championing black causes for three decades as a mentor and foster parent, and offering free video workshops for teenagers in oppressed areas. He is a video documentarian who has worked on issues affecting the hiring of people of color in corporate America.