I liked life better when the pandemic was the lead story and there were no curfews or closed roads into or around cities that burned nightly. A random virus seems easier to fight than the divisiveness that probably has always lay beneath daily concerns but that has been transformed into chaos by He Who Shall Not Be Named. His handling of the pandemic has been bad enough but pales in comparison to his handling of the protests. At least with the virus, there are scientists or doctors I trust--Anthony Fauci, for instance--to guide us. I don't really see someone who I would trust to guide us through the cultural divide that grows wider every day.
The local demonstrations have so far been peaceful. We had our local taste of violent protest on August 12, 2017, after which there has been no need to specify in what state Charlottesville is located. We exist as simply "Charlottesville." I'd like to think that the violence three years ago will act as a shield against violence that might come to pass now. I am probably naive. I did not know demonstrations were occurring locally on Saturday until I saw the Facebook post of a friend going to take part. I must not routinely check the correct news sources to hear of such things before they happened. I would not have gone, though, even had I known about it. Besides the self-quarantining, I have been known to have panic attacks in crowds and do my best to avoid being in them.
The two events--the virus and the racial unrest--are, of course, linked. While George Floyd's murder was undoubtedly the spark, much of the fire since and in other cities has likely been fanned by people venting their frustration over the social restrictions or economic consequences brought on by the virus. Or am I being naive again? I don't want to belittle the George Floyd incident, but there have been too many similar incidents in recent years that led to mass demonstrations but only in the city in which the incident happened. I'm thinking of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015. There were riots, but they did not spread to cities in all 50 states nor did they occur nightly for almost a week.
I find it difficult to wrap my head around the violence, wondering if, in the long run, it does more harm than good. Is it a distraction from the incident that started it? Will it keep us from addressing the issues in a relevant way? Or is my naivety showing one more time?
2 comments:
I have yet to get my hands on a copy of Barry's book (through the library). I do plan to read it, as it is applicable to our generation, and we should learn from history.
I'll be interested to see if you have comments on the president's remarks scheduled for tonight from the Rose Garden. Oh, and whether you saw Alexandra Petri's commentary about the bunker.
^^^ The first comment was supposed to be appended to Day 77's post.
I'd heard of local protests after the fact, but would not have attended during these times. Hard enough to avoid people while getting exercise, much less by putting oneself in the middle of the action.
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