If I were black I'd likely be dead

I recently saw a Web video in which a 20-something, white male rants about how wrong it is to portray whites as privileged and blacks as not.  Loaded with falsehoods and generalizations I found it disturbing that some people actually think this way.

To really understand what privilege means in racial terms you have to understand the black experience and compare it to your own.  This means setting aside all your preconceived notions about race.  A constructive place to begin is with children simply because they are blameless and should not be penalized for the actions of their parents or guardians.

I work with black youth which has given me a greater appreciation of the subtle, yet significant privileges we have in white communities which we take for granted.  My childhood wasn’t exactly a cakewalk and yet I still had it far better than all the black kids with whom I’ve worked. 

I grew up with two alcoholic parents with frequent outbursts of reciprocal, spousal abuse.  My preschool bedwetting was likely precipitated by the trauma of hearing my mother’s screams and wails late into most nights.  It got so bad that they split up when I was entering second grade, but got back together five years later.  Even though my mother got sober during that hiatus, the fighting only got worse until my father left for good when I was in high school never to be seen again.

Burdened with six kids and no alimony or child support, my mother lost the house and everything else within five years.  I helped in any way I could financially and with my younger siblings, and still managed to work my way through college with some financial aid and grant money.  As my income rose over the years I was better able to support my mom ultimately buying her a co-op. 

It would be convenient to use my childhood experiences to criticize blacks for not overcoming their own adversities, but that would be as idiotic as the video that prompted this op-ed. 

Let me elaborate. 

Even though I was a marginal C student, much of my relative success in life came from attending good schools and influential community connections, both of which are lacking in black communities.

I benefited immensely from shared knowledge amongst my middle-class and upper-middle-class peers who learned from their successful parents.  My verbal and writing skills were effortlessly honed by association.  I learned about finance and career opportunities, even how to start my own business from them, and all my employment opportunities came through community connections.

None of this sharing of knowledge and opportunities is common in poorer communities because everyone is disadvantaged.  As an insecure teen and young adult I always had some degree of hope that I could survive on my own because I saw viable avenues to success.  That doesn’t exist so much in black communities.  All young children dream, but in the black experience those dreams often fade as they approach adulthood and see the world for what it is.    

Although somewhat advantaged I was still a very troubled, rebellious teen and young adult.  I engaged in all sorts of teenage vandalism, frequently confronted police officers, started doing drugs and alcohol at 14, occasionally dealt drugs, and got arrested for drunk driving when I was 17 just months after receiving my license. 

At 23, I was arrested again for DWI and while the arresting officer searched my car, I escaped into the night while handcuffed in a futile attempt to get to a friend who had bolt cutters.  Soon the neighborhood was swarming with county police and I was eventually found. 

As retribution, the police repeatedly tripped me so I would fall face-first into the concrete sidewalk; each time I would defiantly rise to my feet verbally abusing the officers in a manner far exceeding anything I’ve heard on smartphone videos capturing blacks being arrested and killed. 

In spite of all my transgressions my mother had attorney friends who always got me off with little or no punishment. 

Some of my siblings got into far more trouble and yet all six of us are somewhat  successful, not so much because we possess exceptional characteristics, but because the system is geared to forgive whites and punish blacks. 

If I were black and did the things I did, I’m convinced I would dead.  So when I honestly reflect back on my younger days and compare it to what I’ve witnessed in black homes, schools, and in the courts over decades, I know I was far more privileged than any black youth I ever met.  Privilege isn’t always tangible which is why we sometimes fail to recognize it.  When America wakes up to this reality, maybe we’ll start to see meaningful change in racial equality.

Lost and spellbound in a Montauk fog

When I awoke there was a thick fog engulfing the beach community where I live.  The forecast said it would clear by mid-morning and it did.  I filled my backpack with bottled water, goggles, and a towel in preparation for my routine, long-distance, ocean swim.  The water is still frigid so I slipped into my wetsuit and took Ibuprofen to ward off the aches and pains of aging.    

The swimming conditions were idyllic:  sunny, a gentle breeze, and tranquil water.  It was not long into my swim when I realized a dense fog bank had suddenly overtaken me.  Given I was roughly 150 feet offshore, I could barely see the beach.

The shoreline serves as a reference to keep me on a straight line and prevents me from inadvertently swimming out to sea.  Without seeing the beach a swimmer can easily become disoriented.

Although my initial reaction was to head to shore, the allure of the fog was intoxicating.  Swimming in the ocean is a very spiritual experience for me, and the fog only accentuated the mood.  I was in my own solitary world free of all the unpleasantness I left behind on dry land. 

I chose to continue my swim.  Why wouldn’t I? 

I didn’t want to return to people with their heads in the sand who brazenly ignore medical and scientific wisdom to blindly follow disingenuous politicians and business leaders who suggest we’ve essentially made it through the pandemic. 

I didn’t want to be reminded that the self-absorbed, young adults who recklessly and flauntingly disregard every precaution to stop the spread of the virus will soon be the caregivers for my generation in our final years. 

I didn’t want to return to watch people forsake the greater safety of all to indulge their own selfish needs and desires. 

And I didn’t want to return to the ubiquitous racism that has afflicted us since the days of slavery and the abhorrent behavior of those who devalue black lives. 

I realize I’m sounding like a misanthrope and maybe I am, but how can you not be disheartened by such ignorance, bias, apathy, selfishness, and violence that permeates America.

So I swam further and further.  I couldn’t see the typical landmarks on shore that tell me how far I’ve gone, but I sensed it was further than normal.  There was no fatigue in my stroke.  It was like I could swim forever in the peace and harmony of the fog-shrouded sea. 

I think it’s human nature for us to want to shut out the world when things are too unsettling or threatening which is why I found such solace in the fog.  But, nothing constructive occurs when we escape to our parochial comfort zones while forsaking the greater world around us.

I eventually returned to shore with cautious optimism that we might somehow come to appreciate our folly and turn a brief period of adversity and uncertainty into resolute solidarity and social progress.

Let’s go to the videotape – if we have the courage

Having been born into the white race, the race of privilege in America, it’s easy to misunderstand what it means to be black.  Even with desegregation, the majority of whites and blacks still live in separate worlds divided by wealth, individual biases, and an unforgiving and racially discriminatory justice system, among other things.

Many well-meaning whites simply don’t appreciate the depth of oppression in black communities, but social media affords us an opportunity to see some of the truth. 

Ubiquitous Smartphone images on the Web provide a window into this other world, yet many of my friends don’t want to look.  Maybe it’s because the window also serves as a mirror.  They may occasionally watch a video, but generally speaking, they don’t want to see the plethora of brutal images that conflict with the more sanitized and justifiable world in their mind’s eye. 

The recent, senseless killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are eye-opening, but so are the more insidious examples; take for instance, the white, somewhat hysterical woman in Central Park, NY who calls 911 falsely accusing a non-confrontational, black birdwatcher of threatening her life when all he did was ask her to leash her dog.

How can we effectively right wrongs like these without fully appreciating the breadth of humiliation, degradation, and terror facing people of color everyday.  Indifference when the truth is right there on our smart devices is unconscionable and ultimately incites the huge demonstrations and rioting we see today. 

Wake up white America and go to the videotapes – if you have the courage. 

Another compelling video shows a Glynn County Police officer confronting a young, black adult who is parked in plain sight on an open, grassy field at the edge of a Georgia park.  It’s broad daylight and he’s chillin’ on music on his day off.  Although he is doing nothing suspicious, he is 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, blacks are not readily afforded such options.  They often get brutalized and in some cases killed if they display any dissatisfaction or resistance, and they don’t have the same avenues of justice we do.  They have little choice but to bite their tongues and swallow their pride.  The harassed man, Ahmaud Arbery (also mentioned earlier), 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.

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

Yet, American history suggests otherwise.  Wasn’t the celebrated Boston Tea Party looting?  A great deal of meaningful social change in America has come as an outgrowth of social upheaval like the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, the Great Depression, and the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960’s.  There is fertile ground for promising, social change when virtually every American is unsettled by national events.

When blacks do use peaceful means, white society always finds a way to ignore the message and demonize the messenger.  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 the unsavory truth invades their comfortable living rooms and disrupts time-honored, American television traditions.

Colin Kaepernick did what few Americans would do:  He put his lucrative and celebrated professional football career in jeopardy for what he believed in.  And yet few applauded his courage or discussed his cause, instead they spent all their time criticizing his method.  Kaepernick was eventually blacklisted from the NFL and essentially gagged by white society.

How can we then criticize the rioting and looting?  If you gag the oppressed too long with apathy, violence will erupt.  Oppressed people need to be heard.

A method to Trump’s madness

Although I don’t believe President Trump is particularly intelligent, I find it implausible that he could be quite so obtuse to believe that now is the time to start reopening businesses.  So why would he pressure the states to do so while ignoring the scientific and medical experts who say it’s premature and likely to trigger a new wave of Covid-19 infections.

The answer is politics.  He has nothing to lose.

In January and February the president blundered when faced with a pandemic he was unfit to handle.  The highly politicized, media-frenetic environment of his own making only exacerbated his infirmity.    

Instead of inspiring the country to work together to fight this formidable enemy, he resorted to divisiveness, denial of science, and passing the buck to the states creating a dysfunctional patchwork of policy.  You don’t win a war by allowing 50 generals to formulate and execute their own war strategies.

Some people have suggested that Trump doesn’t have the jurisdictional authority to control how individual states respond to the virus, but there’s no denying he has the leverage to get states to do anything he wants by controlling various federal grants, aid programs, and the like that they rely on.

So with all this in mind, Trump has dug himself so deep into a hole it’s unlikely at this point he could win in November.  So what would any respectable megalomaniac do?

The answer:  Commit what appears to be political suicide by putting significant pressure on states to reopen businesses.

Trump would likely get reelected if his nonsensical advice has a fairytale ending with no significant rise in infections.  But, in the far more likely event it unleashes a more virulent wave of infections; he’s still afforded two possibilities to extend his presidency. 

First, he could potentially boost his approval ratings by blaming the states for any new outbreak and as a consequence be afforded a second chance to act like a responsible, unifying leader.  Some voters, particularly the feeble-minded, gullible and those with short memories, might actually buy into this giving him a long-shot chance of reelection.

The second is to use the new outbreak as justification for postponing the election.  This would give him time to further his political agenda, particularly in judicial appointments and rolling back environmental legislation.  I realize this may sound absurd to many, but even Trump’s son-in-law and advisor said recently that it is not being ruled out.

So there may be a method to his madness, a diabolical one at that. 

And if you don’t believe the coronavirus is likely to get worse, consider how people typically behave.  If one state or region opens their businesses and an adjoining one remains shut down, where do you think the residents of the more restricted and infected area -= are going to flock for rest and relaxation? 

Furthermore, states don’t have the wherewithal to enforce policies meant to protect the public as businesses reopen.  Some individuals and businesses left to their own devices will invariably bend the rules.  And as we learned from the notorious Westport, Connecticut party that made national news in March, it only takes a single breach to cause a ripple affect of contagion.

Of course, constitutionally President Trump cannot unilaterally postpone the election, but he is a master of causing people to underestimate him and then surprising them.  We cannot afford to let this happen.  At the very least, measures should now be underway to increase and promote the viability of secure, write-in ballots, and to block any other conceivable route the Trump administration may take.

My fear, however, is that Republicans usually outsmart and outmaneuver Democrats when it comes to dirty dealing. 

The preservation of human life has to be nonnegotiable

With spring in full bloom it’s not surprising that people are most anxious to end the coronavirus lockdowns and return to normalcy.  The movement of many states and the federal government to reopen businesses will certainly make a great number of people happy, but it defies what science and the history of epidemics and pandemics tell us. 

What kind of society have we become if we ignore the institutions we have created to guide us during such times?  How can we discount organizations like the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization, as well as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a prominent infectious disease expert and White House advisor?

President Trump and some state governors will certainly win the political favor of many rich and powerful individuals and corporate executives, most of whom are white.  But, the people of color who have been most ravaged by the coronavirus and have little political influence will pay the greatest price for this foolhardy relaxing of restrictions. 

Up to this point, the virus has disproportionately attacked along socioeconomic lines.  Those who have to use public transportation, those with low paying jobs in which they cannot work from home, and those with underlying health problems and poor healthcare are especially susceptible right now. 

“COVID-19 offers us a moment in time to pay attention to these inequities,” explains Grace A. Noppert, Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology.  “Pockets of COVID-19 transmission in any community keep the risk of an enduring epidemic alive for every community (emphasis added).”

Although the country has shown recent signs of promise, its COVID-19 death rate is still alarmingly high and it’s testing grossly inadequate.  Governmental leaders cannot make sound policy decisions without comprehensive data on the number of infections.  And it is unconscionable to do so while ignoring the pervasive advice of the scientific and medical communities.

The recent emergence of a potentially lethal, pediatric disease linked to COVID-19 is further cause for caution. 

To prematurely open businesses now is to encourage the movement of people from community to community and state to state which will encourage the spread of the virus and ultimately prolong the social restrictions and economic downturn.  Certainly it will encourage people to travel from hotspots like New York City to nearby areas where the lockdown has been relaxed.  Even the suggestion of reopening soon is irresponsible because it gives the impression we are nearly through this and can let our guard down.

Furthermore, government agencies do not have the resources to insure compliance with the various laws businesses will have to follow when reopening.  Invariably some businesses left to their own devices will bend the rules.  And as we learned from the notorious Westport, Connecticut party that became national news for spreading the virus, a single incident can trigger a ripple effect of contagion.     

In the months since the coronavirus first came to our attention in late December 2019, we have not seen any comprehensive, timely, clear, and consistent top-down leadership at either a federal or state level.  The response to the pandemic has clearly demonstrated how dysfunctional government in general has become and how few politicians in a reactionary, media frenetic world are equipped with the foresight and courage to make tough, but necessary decisions to bring us all through these difficult times.

A patchwork of policies by individual communities, states, and the federal government only invites disaster.  We are all in the same lifeboat and we will only weather the storm with minimal pain and suffering if we all row in unison and no one rocks the boat.  This is not the time for politics.  This is not the time for scapegoats.  This is not the time for bravado.  And this is not the time for greed.  It is a time for courage, sound decision making, and accountability. 

In the absence of such leadership we need to let science and history guide us, and that means voicing your dissatisfaction with this reckless policy direction.  And above all, we need to sanctify the preservation of all human life.