First a pandemic and now riots - What's next?

It's often said that things happen in threes, I'm afraid to even ponder what the next one might be.

Those who devle into dystopian conspiracy theories of an invisble hand pushing the world into a dark future of one world government subjigating the human population to slavery, they're probably feeling somewhat justified in their beliefs right now.  

First we had the novel coronavirus shutting down large segments of public life including closed schools and churches,.  Many buisnesses are shuttered with millions tossed from gainful employment to the poverty of government welfare.  Despite research showing that the virus spreads almost exclusively indoors  most jurisdictions still allow grocery stores, Wal-Marts, Amazon warehouses and many other businesses to continue operating with little more than guidelines about physical distancing.  

Meanwhile outdoor spaces are heavily regulated.  The city of Coburg just announced that its popular public beach will be closed for the summer.  Everyday activity like shooting hoops alone have led to fines, even sitting down in a park.  Some of these measures are being eased, but there's still lots of things you cannot do outside without risk of a citation.  And don't even think about having kids over for a birthday party for your seven year old, even if its outside in the backyard.

Now we have protests across the United States erupting into violence over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer as other officers stood and watched.  Civil liberties have been fruther eroded by the imposition of curfew orders in many American cities.  

So what's next?  

Its said a house divided cannot stand, and the United States has not been this divided since their Civil War.  The U.S. is incredibly split right now.  There are those who want lockdown measures eased, if not completely rescinded, and those who want them to contine.  Between those who sympathize with the protests and those who want the heavy hand of the state to come hammering down and restore the peace.  

Are we just one step removed from the creation of an authoritaian regime on Canada's southern border?  What would it take to push our neighbour to impose full martial law, creating a country that would seem more like China and North Korea than the society envisioned by the framers of the U.S. constitution?  

We've had pandemics before, as well as riots fueled by racial tension.  Thinking about what could happen next, the first thing that springs to mind is something that's also happened before, in places like New York City and Boston.  I don't even want to say the word, because I fear it.  And I fear what could happen in the wake of such an event at a time such as this.  

George Floyd - What can I add?

It keeps happening, over and over and over again.  Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, with plenty before, in between, and sadly I fear, more to come.  Why?  

I think I know the answer, and its ugly.  The sad but honest reality is that a lot of white Americans are afraid of blacks, especially young black men.  And worse still, and this is the really hard part, in some ways its not even their fault.  White Americans have been conditioned and taught to think this way.  

I'm not excusing murderers, I hope they're given life imprisionment, if I wasn't opposed to the death penalty I'd be calling for execution.  But even putting the guilty before a firing squad won't eliminate the root cause of the problem I'm afraid.  And that root cause is this in my opinion, more than a century of denegrating an entire race, leading white America to view black males as more prone to violence, criminal behaviour and sexual predetation. 

Its bullshit and it has to stop, but that's easier said than done.

Why do I think this, that there's a built in and conditioned fear of blacks among whites?  Because for a time, I was guilty of it.  I grew up in the United States, ten of my first twelve years were spent in NYC, New Jersey and Oregon.  I didn't move permanently back to Canada until 1978 when I was twelve years of age, I'll spare you having to do the math, I'll by 54 this summer.  

Its not an easy thing to admit, but for a long time I thought of blacks as being more prone to criminal behaviour.  Sure I knew some black kids that I went to school with, some great individuals.  They were the exceptions to the rule, they'd risen above their natures.  I'm not excusing my former attitude, just owning up to it.  It was reinforced by the neighbourhoods I grew up in, always very white.  Its not cliche, if a black family moves into a white area in the United States even now, many whites will move away.  

I'm lucky, my late amazing Mother did an awesome job raising me.  When I came home from the flea market at 15 years of age with a Confederate Flag that I hung over my bed she told me in no uncertain terms that a racist symbol was not welcome in our house.  My arguments of rebellion, the Dukes of Hazzard and General Lee thankfully fell on deaf ears. I got an education.  

That didn't completely erase the conditioning I'd been subject to for so long though, but it started to open my eyes.  And my eyes are still being opened.  I'm actually a little uncomfortable writing this, because as a white man what right do I have to comment on a situation that deep down I can never completely understand and appreciate.  

I do have some skin in the game though, my wife is Tamil with dark skin and I have 3 mixed race children that I adore.  And I have a responsibility to at least try to hand them a better world than the one I grew up in.  Thankfully its not as bad in Canada as the United States, but things are a long way from perfect here.  

I'm not kidding when I place the blame for American attitudes about race on conditioning, the primary culprits being government and media.  And it transcends borders.  Look at this clip from an old Dirty Harry movie.  

What's the message here?  All the criminals are black, all the victims are white, and the hero is of course a white man.  You might not realize it conciously, but its there and this is just one example.  

After the civil war southern states  brought in so called 'Jim Crow' laws, basically making it almost illegal to be black in public.  When southerners saw criminal chain gangs post war they were overwhelmingly, or entirely black, the message was clear:  blacks are criminals.    The movie 'Birth of a Nation' came out in 1915 glorifying the Klu Klux Klan.  U.S. president Woodrow Wilson had a private screening in the White House and praised it.  

Fast forward to the Nixon era with blacks being targetted as criminals and hippies as druggies in an effort to scare American voters into voting GOP, successfully too.  Even  Bill Clinton played to this irrational but very real fear with his three strikes and you're out campaining and subsequent legislation.  

That's all history now.  How do we make things better going forward?  That's easier said than done I'm afraid.  It will take media and government flipping the script.  And right now there's a sitting president in Donald Trump who's relying on voters with racist views to put him back in the White House.  

Its a conversation everyone needs to have.  As a Christain I believe everyone of us is an image bearer, no matter the pigmentation. Hearts and minds are hard to win over when people have been conditioned to hate for generations, but a start comes when we open up and share our truth, even when its hard to admit.