I have been thinking about Michael Brown: his shooting; the investigation; the grand jury; the reaction of the Ferguson community to his death. We have learned much. We have learned that things are more complicated than they first appear, that there are two sides to every tragedy, that we may never have all of the answers. But this does not prevent us from certain realizations as, over the past few weeks, place names have taken on new meanings. Ferguson, Cleveland, and Staten Island have become bound together and together symbolize a lack of fairness, a lack of respect, a lack of care. Specifically, there has been a pattern of excessive force applied disproportionately against people of color. This result has had a devastating effect on trust between those charged with the keeping of the peace and the citizens of a country founded on the concept that all people are created equal.
At Sandy Spring Friends School we have a responsibility to engage in meaningful discussion guided by personal reflection. As we consider the perspectives of those we agree with and those we do not, we must think carefully about the words that we use. And we must speak truth to power. I call out the gun lobby for promoting the notion that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
The sentiment that good guys know who the bag guys are is not only nonsense; it is terrifying.
I believe I am a Good Guy. I also have a growing awareness of how being white has bestowed on me innumerable, undeserved privileges including, especially, that it should be obvious to everyone, including the police, that I am a Good Guy.
That African Americans routinely encounter a different standard characterized by an absence of the benefit of the doubt should be talked about. It is not acceptable that we explain the deaths of unarmed black boys, teenagers, and young men as being brought on by fright triggered by stereotypes. We should never accept being told that the hurting or killing of a child was the unfortunate but understandable result of someone believing that he looked like a Bad Guy.
Recently, my son Nathan told me that he spent the day reading the transcripts from the grand jury in the Michael Brown case. For him, the injustice of the idea that other lives mattering less than his own has lingered, igniting passion and resolve.
Let us stand together and, as a community of brothers and sisters, as family, we will find our voices.