BRIGHT SIDE OF FERGUSON

We are not seeing everything that is going on in Ferguson or in the country for that matter. Even in light of the turmoil in this small town, it is my contention that racisms is declining. In other words, our innate or bestial sense of xenophobia is waning. In fact, I could expand that remark to include the entire world without feeling I am exaggerating. One of the most impressive books I have ever read was by Stephen Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity. In the context of the book, the author argues and documents, that over the sweep of natural history, the pervasive belief that mankind is becoming more violent over decades and millennia is wrong. The truth is that we are becoming less violent. This seems to be happening with racism as well. We are learning to suppress that instinctual sense of fear of strangers. Anthropologists can easily find “primitive” tribes who live in isolation. They live in isolation for a number of reason one of which is because they fear strangers.

Recently, I viewed a YOUTUBE video clip of a young, white skinned Scottish woman, a well-educated airline hostess, who chose to live for one month with a black tribe in Africa, Tribal wives of Afar. In addition to having a racial different there was a stark religious contrast, she being Christian and the tribe being Muslim. By the end of the month, they were beyond teaching the newcomer how they do things. They were actually sharing domestic chores and caring for one another; obvious deep caring affection, not just friendship but genuine deeply felt affection had developed between this young person and two teenage girls in that tribe. This video clip came to mind as I watched the riots evolve in Ferguson after the “No indictment verdict” of the grand jury. I saw black and white people genuinely supporting one another in the protest. They committed horrific acts together; they burned cars and business, looted stores, fired shots, etcetera. The faces of the rioters were not all back and those of the riot control officers were not all white. They were true riots, certainly with a racial component; however, were they truly racial riots pitting white people against black people or were they protesting a police officer shooting an unarmed young person? The take away message was that there was true support between all members of the crowd, which strongly suggests to me the protest was more about a police officer killing a young person with his hands held high in a gesture of surrender.   

We have a lot more accurate information about what happened now then when the crowds first formed in the streets. Of course, news stores, eyewitness accounts, and the grand jury testimony were all slanted to fit a preconceived point of view; regardless of what that point of view might be. Aside from the cherry picked “preconceived” facts each of us might pick to believe, some factors add credibility to these thoughts about the deeper insight to what happened. Several newscasters made remarks indicating last night’s crowds were small and more focused on doing violence than on protesting than the crowds had been in August, when the police officer had shot the young man. Like the newscasters, I do not have hard data only an impression; however, the first crowds that formed spontaneously following the shooting seemed of a different nature than those that formed last night. The nature of the violence of the first crowds seemed different as well. Businesses the rioters were trashing and the stores the “rioters” being looted also seemed different. What I am implying is a person who shows up to loot a store, and not to protest, is a thief looking to steal free liquor, food, or what ever and not to protest. I watched video of a group of white young people, all appeared to be the same age, who appeared thrilled in their attempt to turn over police car.  

Is all of this the first evidence that racial divide is becoming less and less. Is what we saw happen in Ferguson something we should see hope in and not despair? The way the case was handled leaves the question unanswered: was the police officer doing his job by trying to arrest a cigar thief and ended up defending himself from a 6 foot 4 inch well over 250 pound aggressor or did the police officer shoot an innocent unarmed black animal like youth because he didn’t like black people. I think we can see real hope for humankind, if we chose to look at the bright side of this terrible tragic situation.

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