Fifty-seven years ago next month I was in jail for a few hours, having sat down on the asphalt in front of a small segregated amusement park in Baltimore that wouldn’t let black kids go in and ride the Merry-Go-Round. The fact that I was there was a fluke frankly: a college freshmen, I had just gone with my friend Ed Wood to see what it was all about and suddenly realized that watching was no good. It left us standing on the wrong side of the road, among people of ill will. I had to get to the right side, literally and figuratively.
Fifty-seven years. The amusement park was desegregated, and soon a Public Accommodations law was enacted. A year later the voting rights act was passed, and other anti-discrimination laws followed. We thought we’d helped accomplish something. But we were young and naïve.
Fifty-seven years. It is true that much has changed in some realms—but the most essential evolution–in the hearts of men and women—that work is far from done. These have not been fifty-seven years of personal activism, crusading for civil rights; I’ve just gone about a normal life, though trying to treat everyone with fairness and respect. I think most people do that also–but I guess I’m old and naïve.
And then comes Officer Chauvin, a public servant and protector, with a knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd for nearly nine minutes, three after he was no longer conscious—all over some twenty-dollars. Three other officers stood by and watched. A horror, and coming after many other such episodes—each one different, yet all the same—year after year, month after month…seemingly week after week of late.
Fifty-seven years, and STILL I need to stand witness against what is simply wrong, intolerable, not acceptable in any society that I want to leave to my grandsons, not the America for which my father died fighting. Maybe it’s taken fifty-seven years for me to get it: silence is violence. What does that mean? I think it means that we have to understand that Officer Chauvin and the three complicit colleagues, and others like them, think they can act with impunity only because our culture somehow permits it. We permit it. That will change only when we collectively make it change. Silence will never yield change.
Several comments about last Saturday’s vigil on Marlboro Road:
First, in the hours before the vigil, among much encouragement, I received four messages that it was a bad idea and should be called off. I think many others may have held that view. All four messages began with an expression of personal horror at the Floyd killing, but, in effect, urged silence. Any gathering was too dangerous, it would lead to trouble, protesters might “burn down the town,” notwithstanding the event was on a sunny Saturday morning, was initiated by white people, and word disseminated through the Talbot Spy and email chains.
I think it is healthy to acknowledge that a lot of white people are simply afraid of black people. Afraid in particular to speak out loud about race across the color line. Since Saturday morning, I’ve had four conversations on race with black men I know—first in the twenty-five years I’ve lived here. Civil conversations, everyone knowing we’ve got a problem. It really didn’t hurt, and you should see the transformation when the silence is broken. Imagine—“You are black, I am white.”
Second, I thought it noteworthy that seventy percent or more of the hundreds who came to express outrage at the murder of George Floyd were white. From all over the County, every age from teens to elderly, with homemade and heartfelt signs all cobbled together in a couple of hours, spurred on by no organization. I know the crowd included Republicans, people who self-identify as conservatives, and a host of independents. The rejection of racial hatred (or, perhaps worse, indifference) is not a partisan idea, it is a moral issue. As one sign said, “The air we all have a right to breathe is neither Red nor Blue.”
From several of the conversations I referred to above, I learned that the African Americans at the event were rather astonished to see all the white people there, had no idea. They and many whites were surprised to see how few African Americans were present. Perhaps that was because of the way word was disseminated, but also (I’m told) that some in the black community were themselves fearful–that acknowledging Mr. Floyd’s death, they’d be accused of “stirring up trouble.” Fear begets fear.
Third, I’ve heard people say that if one stands up to protest extreme police brutality against Mr. Floyd, one is implicitly accusing all police officers—the Easton force, Sheriff Joe’s deputies, maybe even Chief Smith in St. Michaels—of being racists and malefactors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rejecting a knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd or any other citizen stands alone—it says nothing whatever, either way, about our local law enforcement officers. But for the tragic (and very important) Anton Black case 20 miles from here, I’m not aware of systemic problems and have a positive impression. (But, really, an elderly white man living off the St. Michaels Road isn’t likely to have much insight on that, is he?)
In many big cities the justified outrage over Mr. Floyd’s killing and the killing of others has led to never-justified riot, looting and even death, seemingly spurred on by those who benefit from chaos. That violence is abhorrent, period. But plenty of private citizens and especially politicians welcome the complete shift of attention away from Mr. Floyd and police brutality—where blacks were the victims—to focus on the universally condemned looting and arson, where the authorities have the moral (and literal) high ground. So much easier and more comfortable to talk about than racial justice.
But we cannot pivot away from the imperative of racial justice so fast, while Mr. Floyd’s body is still warm. In fact, we cannot pivot away at all–not now, not fifty-seven years from now.
Dan Watson
Easton
Glenn Baker says
Officer Chauvin was/is clearly a bad cop. But I’m saw nothing to make me think his actions were racial. I see he had 17? complaints against him over the years. Were these racial also?
Why does the media report this was racial. Nothing was said about race at the event. So we are locked up at home too long and the media needs a headline? How did we get here?
Any media outrage about the two white citizens shot and killed at the local veterans cemetery? I don’t think so.
Why the double standard?
How about the coverage of the Black men shot and killed during these “protests”.
I grew up in segregated Maryland school systems. And I have seen much change in the last 50 or so years.
There will always be bad apples in the barrel. That doesn’t mean everyone is. This needs alot more talking and explaining.
Larry Myers says
Sociology is the study of group dynamics in society. That means the study of how how social groups form, behave, and protect their members. Sociologists across the academic spectrum, as well as police administrators, prosecutors, judges and others involved in the criminal justice system, have long been warning politicians and society that for many years, police organizations have become a self-protective “fraternity,” that places loyalty to the brotherhood above the legal duties they are pledged to maintain. Remember “Serpico”? Prosecutors know that police often lie under oath to protect fellow officers from any hint of wrongdoing. And prosecutors are often complicit. All too often it is the victim who is charged with crimes that justify police actions, no matter how violent. And juries, mostly fearful of alienating police, let off even egregious behavior. by police and prosecutors. This is not a supposition; as a lawyer, I know many in the criminal justice system that will speak “off the record.” Citizen review boards from the 60s and 70s have largely proved powerless against the conspiracy of official silence.
That’s why many police don’t like body cameras.
But in the last two decades, something far more dangerous to our concept of civil society under laws has occurred. The basic method of police training has radically changed. There has been a shift from policeman as conflict mediator to member of a strike force team, whose goal and methods derive directly from the military. All recruits are now taught that the only effective method of dealing with any personal or social conflict is to move in with body armor in teams and use “overwhelming force” (official terminology) to dominate the situation. The emulation of military special forces is clear and direct. This shift has caught many civil servants by surprise. Administrating a city police force is now like commanding a platoon or company. Individual police are not necessarily racists, or violent. Rather, they are taught “don’t give anyone subject to scrutiny any chance to do anything but submit, immediately.” Or the “team” might be in jeopardy. Anyone who has military experience knows that military is the antithesis of civil society and equal rights under law. The military is not democratic. It is a team that looks at others in terms of “us and them.” Think about it.
White racism has been a fact for 400 + years. But that’s not all that is going on. We have turned over the “constable” to the concept of special forces. We have militarized our civil law enforcement, despite fundamental laws and centuries of practice to the contrary. We have done this to ourselves. Getting out of this deep hole will not be easy. We must do no less than change the concept of police training, and re-cast the veneration of overwhelming force as the touchstone of getting along in society. There are millions of Americans who already understand this through daily experience. Those who are privileged must do some deep thinking on what a society really is, and make necessary changes in what constitutes law and order.
No matter who we elect as leaders, maintaining our present course will lead to people in the streets.
Vickie J. Wilson says
Thanks, Mr Watson for organizing the event on Saturday. I was very proud to be apart of it and prouder to be a part of this community.
Richard Marks says
Dan, thank-you for your call to action to Stand Up For George Floyd. Saturday’s protest revealed there are many folks in our community that care deeply and are appalled by the mistreatment of African American citizens and lack of social justice in our society. Saturday’s protest was overdue. In the words of a friend, born and raised here and knowing what it feels like to face racism, the protests were “long overdue”. May I add while I agree with you that taking a knee or protesting the actions of police brutality we have witnessed nationally does not implicate our local law enforcement, optics do matter. Five years ago, I observed an Easton police “SWAT” vehicle and two officers with dogs present at the Frederick Douglass Day parade. While not satisfied with the explanation given when I questioned and challenged those actions, I am pleased to observe it’s not been repeated. Our local law enforcement is there to protect us, but I do hope they also remain sensitive to our citizens, particularly to our African American brethren who have endured too much pain for too many years. We can be protected in proper fashion respectfully with awareness and sensitivity by those who are trained to serve our community and keep us safe.