Eric Garner – Engaging Peace

National WHAT Day?

Posted on October 21, 2016October 21, 2016 by kathiemm

Have you heard the news? Friday, October 21, is the 21st National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation Day. There are protest activities scheduled all around the country—including Massachusetts –and internationally.

Engagingpeace has expressed concern over the militarization of police, and featured several posts on police violence—with reference, for example, to Trayvon Martin , Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner and the 68-year-old grandmother terrorized by a SWAT team that invaded the wrong house.

Not all police officers are violent; not all police officers are racist. Moreover, many police officers serve in dangerous areas, face genuine threats, and endure grueling occupational stress. But the problems of police bullying, violence, and murder are real. It is worth recognizing the value of attempts to address the problems.

If Trayvon Martin/Tamir Rice/Eric Garner could talk

Posted on September 16, 2016March 11, 2021 by kathiemm

1974. Does it seem like a long time ago? A whole different era—before omnipresent computers spying on everyone, before killer drones, before ISIS? Well, maybe.

James Baldwin published If Beale Street Could Talk in 1974. If you read the book, you will have to admit that the experiences of young black men in 1974 sound very much like the travails of people of color in this country today, especially if they grow up in poverty but even if they just happen to be of the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Although If Beale Street Could Talk is an engaging and haunting love story, it is an even more haunting story of racism, particularly institutional racism, police racism, racism that is, directly and indirectly, murderous—to bodies, to minds, to communities, to our nation.

If you want to understand better the necessity and significance of movements like Black Lives Matter, read If Beale Street Could Talk. And if Trayvon and Tamir and Eric and thousands of other young people of color whose lives were brutally ended could talk, they might want to say something like:

“Of course all lives matter. But you white people just assume your life matters, and you assume you have rights, and you demand respect for your life and your rights. If you think you’re not getting what you deserve, you get rip-roaring mad, and you feel downright entitled to look for scapegoats and lock them up or shoot them. And sometimes you even vote for crazy people who promise to get rid of all the bad guys troubling your lives. But if you’re black, you know your life doesn’t matter one whit to millions of white people, you know you’re dispensable, and you know your life is at risk even if you’re just driving your car down the road with a broken tail light.”

For anyone who wants to understand why some people feel the need to point out that their lives matter, that black lives matter, too, I urge you to read James Baldwin. He’s as relevant today as he was 42 years ago, and that is chillingly, distressingly relevant.

I still can’t breathe

Posted on April 17, 2016 by kathiemm

It was a beautiful day in Massachusetts today—a day to get outside, breathe in fresh air, enjoy the sunshine, listen to the birds, and be grateful for being alive. All of which I did.

But then a close friend brought me back to another reality, one that is never far from my consciousness or conscience, by sending me the link to the video at the beginning of this post.

Please watch and listen.

Watching and listening made me gnash my teeth, weep, rage. ask for the millionth time how people can bear to treat other people cruelly. Such images always lead me, at least for awhile, close to despair.

But I had other reactions to the video. The music is exalting; it raised me up and energized me. It reminded me forcefully of the courage of people who speak out, who sing out, who fight for social justice, and grateful that I personally know so many fine people of multiple hues who participate in that struggle.

What are your reactions when you tune in to the video? what do you feel? what do you want to do?

Personally I am sad to have retired from college teaching, to have lost the opportunity to encourage my students to be the real patriots–that is to work actively for peace and social justice in this country, But I will continue to sign petitions, send letters, participate in demonstrations, and optimistically write this blog, grateful to any readers willing to approach my soapbox.

The story behind the making of the video and the lyrics to the song can be found at: http://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/chester-childrens-chorus/CCCSpringNewsletter.pdf. Please read. The poem/song is another great example of art on behalf of peace and social justice.

by Kathie Malley-Morrison