‘From a little old white lady’

Tom Jackson Jr. wrote compellingly of his experience with racial injustice, and of the anguish it has caused him and his children (“I am a Black man: Your neighbor,” Times-Standard, June 12, Page A2). He asks, “Which person in privilege will come to my defense? Who, in privilege, will take the strong stance and say in this community we will not tolerate this any longer and what specific steps will be taken? Who will say we are better than this? Who will put their reputation and their privilege on the line to take on this social injustice, racial injustice, and say what must be said and do what must be done?”

I answer Tom Jackson — I will.

I hear you. I believe you when you (and others) say you have been discriminated against, hated, beaten, killed, treated with injustice and otherwise held back. I am on your side. I want to help make it better for you. I want you to have opportunity and equal treatment under the law.

I am privileged and grateful for my affluent life. I don’t deserve it any more than George Floyd deserved to have the life crushed out of him. If, perish the thought, you find yourself in peril at the hands of authorities questioning your rights, I’ll come to your defense.

This must be said — there should be no peace until the criminal justice system has been radically reformed. Prospective police officers must be thoroughly vetted and only those who sincerely believe in equality and justice should be admitted. Police officers must be trained that violent reactions on their part are methods of last resort, and they must be trained in deescalation techniques. Techniques that are life threatening should be banned. Officers should be trained in non-lethal techniques. Police must be reduced in number, but other peace officers — social workers, therapists, job counselors and others trained in all manner of community intervention and community development should join them. The prison system must be remodeled on ideas of rehabilitation and creation of opportunity, especially for nonviolent offenders. There should be no militarization of police forces. Police officers should be held accountable for their actions by civilian oversight. Police forces should reflect the ethnic diversity of their communities. … etc. … These ideas are not new. These ideas have been employed in various places and have been shown to be effective in helping to maintain the peace. Isn’t that why we have police?

This must also be said — the history of Homo sapiens is characterized by unequal distribution of justice ranging from discrimination to violent conflict. American history is rife with examples. The U.S. was built by whites who stole everything from Native Americans and killed them without mercy or remorse. Remember the Indian Island massacre? Most non-native people choose to believe it was an aberration. But read the history of the Bald Hills War in Wikipedia. Government-sanctioned and supported militias deliberately extirpated Native peoples. Slavery. The Holocaust. Genocidal atrocities have existed throughout history.

Conflict is driven by the view that the world operates as a zero-sum game. Anything that you have subtracts from all that I might be able to have. But science has shown us that the world does not operate as a zero-sum game. In fact, cooperation can and does increase the well-being of all.

I believe what separates humans from animals is selfawareness — the state of understanding our impacts on others and on the world. But humans often rationalize their selfish actions by believing that the others whom they oppress are somehow less than human. But — no person is less than human, and no amount of rationalization will make them so.

Let this be a new era of enlightenment and awareness. Stop behaving as if my knee on your neck somehow advances my own interests. It doesn’t — it makes me less human because it demonstrates that I am not self-aware. It makes my community less safe. It’s behavior that I cannot tolerate. We’re better than this — or we can be.

The evidence of the legacy of socioeconomic disparity is incontrovertible. Reforming the criminal justice system is necessary. But we need to recognize and remove systemic racism in all areas of government and society. And we must implement meaningful and just reparations.

Black lives matter. Native lives matter. Muslim lives matter. Jewish lives matter. Hispanic lives matter. Female lives matter. LGBTQ lives matter. All human lives matter. The time has come to put this truth into action and create a just and equitable society.