Could we talk about race?
Just talk about it? Not yell about it, not throw names at each other, not try to assign blame?
Could we just have a conversation that might help people understand each other’s views and maybe change some of them? A conversation that will give us back some of the hope that we have so utterly lost?
Of course, racial conflict is not new. Race-based violence in America goes back centuries. Prejudice is laced through our history, whether we’re talking about the treatment of native peoples as savages, the hostility toward immigrants that predates the current conflicts, or the anti-Semitism that still arises.
Today, though, too many people still find unreasoning reasons to hate. It’s a sniper shooting police officers because — according to the Dallas police chief — he “wanted to kill white people.” It’s the string of incidents in which black citizens have been killed by police officers under highly questionable circumstances.
It’s a world where a New York politician did not see a problem with a tweet suggesting that someone lynch Attorney General Loretta Lynch, then called it “a well-intended mistake.” Where online trolls respond to Jewish reporters with images in favor of the Holocaust. Where every day seems to bring not only blatant hatred, but also another set of “dog whistles” for yet another horrific message.
It’s a world where we look at current horrors and wonder, is Cleveland next?
But the response, too often, is blame. It’s your fault. No, it’s yours. Authority has run amok. Society has broken down.
Solutions? Not much hope there, not even from the old ones. After the mass shooting in Oregon in 2015, President Barack Obama said, “Our thoughts and prayers are not enough.” The same line arose after the Orlando, Fla., shootings this year.
Some U.S. representatives refused to participate in a moment of silence in the House for the Orlando victims. Such moments are meant to allow reflection. But as one member of Congress said, “Silence is the enemy of progress.”
And too often, even in the middle of a lot of noise, what we have is silence where it matters. Instead of facing each other, and trying to sort things out, we preach to our respective choirs — or let commentators argue across the chasm of a split screen, instead of in the same room.
Nothing is served by that. Nothing is served by accusation and recrimination. That just fuels the anger, which inspires the violence, which begets more violence and more anger, and on it goes.
Talking is not a panacea. We have serious problems, huge differences, systems in disarray, and the solutions will not be simply concocted or easily put in place. Reasonable people and ideas will have to work their way past others who thrive on hate.
But why not start with a conversation? Ask a co-worker. Find a neighbor. Ask:
“What do we not understand about each other?”
“What have you experienced that I haven’t?”
“What makes you angry? Why?”
Hope that you’re asked the same. Then:
“What do we do about this?”
Because we need more frank talk, and less of what’s happening on the streets.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/heldenfiles, on Facebook and on Twitter @rheldenfelsABJ. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.