I think I've been all over the place lately with everything going on. The ongoing examples of devaluation of life garnering media attention have me conflicted and compelled to feel I need to "do something". DO SOMETHING, but what?
From the slaying of Ahmed Aubrey to the perplexing case of Breanna Taylor. Now, this week we have George Floyd. All this loss is enough to drive anyone mad. And as expected, I've observed and reacted with deep, deep dissatisfaction. I've run through so many emotions - Shock and disbelief. Confusion and discomfort. Anger and outrage. Discontents and resentment. In the end, I still am not sure what I should be doing - if anything. My heart truly hurts.
It takes a special understanding of the way we have shaped society. Our racially complected landscapes and the interplay between it and the most dominant features of our world, to really get at the heart of these atrocities and the grievances that follow them. If we ignore the fact of consumerist and capitalistic features that govern, persuade and guide our lives, we set ourselves up for fundamental failure regarding any stride towards true change.
The way racial discontents express themselves in a historically “race-based" society is simply a feature of such a society. We expect different but the tried and true practice of racial injustice proves paramount. With such reverence for idols and symbols do we expect us to challenge ourselves to think beyond the mechanisms that drive our daily motivations? Just take COVID for instance. We look to leadership for direction on this crisis and instead are inundated with fear-mongering imagery, misinformation, and evidence that suggest corporations are more important than people. A common theme throughout and super relevant all things considered.
It takes great discipline to understand the core psychological function of a riot and not engage in arbitrary discourse with individuals who do not. The pathology of how protests turn to riots will still only be understood from within the context of situations that brought it about.
When you understand that rioting and social upheaval are symptoms of a deeper illness in society, it becomes easier to understand the type of change needed for prevention. A reshaping of society. As a WHOLE!
As long as the world operates with psychosocial, eco, and racial imbalance, we can expect to see the expression of psychosocial, eco, and racial unrest.
~Solidarity