In the last few days a high school junior who showed a lot of promise accidentally went to the wrong house to pick up his younger sibs after school and was shot through the door, twice. He staggered to the neighbors and at the first two houses they refused to help. Finally, the third neighbor opened the door and helped him. He is expected to recover (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65299127).
On another street several young people pulled into the wrong driveway and as they were backing out, shots were fired and killed a young woman (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/what-we-know-about-the-killing-of-the-ny-woman-who-was-shot-after-pulling-into-the-wrong-driveway/ar-AA1a1I6V).
Here’s why I’m confused. The young man was black. The young woman was white. In neither case did they pose a threat based on the news reports. In both cases the shooter was a white man with no reason to feel threatened that I could see. Were they terrified out of their minds? What is going on here? (https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/)
Word on the street is that white men are arming themselves for fear of a race war. At the same time, they justify having guns because the solution to bad guys with guns is good guys with guns. (https://news.sky.com/story/why-are-white-men-more-likely-to-carry-out-mass-shootings-11252808)
Also, there has been more than one mass shooting a day this year or is the statistic more than one person dead in a mass shooting than days in the year so far? The statistics are so staggering I can’t keep up with them. And all the shooters (bad guys in my book) are white guys. (https://abcnews.go.com/US/mass-shootings-days-2023-database-shows/story?id=96609874)
Is the overall violence in the world as well as in our culture making too many of us paranoid? Is it a mental illness problem? Is it a masculine mystique issue? (https://abcnews.go.com/US/116-people-died-gun-violence-day-us-year/story?id=97382759)
Seriously, I need someone to help me with this issue!
Since first attending Dialogue: Racism in 1991 and because I taught for 30 years in a totally diverse community college with increasingly diverse faculty, my life is quite diverse. I have black women and men, LGBTQQIA women and men, Jewish and Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu, atheist, agnostic and Christian women and men on my lists of “Best People I’ve Ever Known.” As far as I can tell, none of us carry a gun. And as a rule, I feel safe even on the other side of the tracks, so to speak.
The news, however, makes it clear that any of us might be shot to death for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as they say in the case of random shootings. So, what can I do to change this unfortunate situation?
OK. I just cannot comprehend why anyone would shoot up kids and teachers in a school. To me that’s a kind of evil I have no way of comprehending. But wait, maybe I do. The shooters do not see the value of their targets. Come to think of it, that applies to the gang-related shootings. And the random shootings. And the white guys who shot the kid who mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell and the girl in the car that drove into the wrong driveway by mistake; clearly the shooters did not see their victims as valuable humans who might be part of their community.
So how do we come to see other people as members of our community of fellow humans?
In my case, my first job was as a lab tech in a children’s hospital. We had nurses of various ethnicities and doctors coming from all over the world to do their residency there. People of color filled all the personal service positions in the cafeteria and maintenance arenas. And our patients were very diverse and largely poor, and though my family was not wealthy by any means, they were a different socio-economic class. I had to interact with all of them in fairly intimate settings. All the stereotypes I grew up with gradually dissipated as I interfaced with the humanity of every individual I worked with as colleagues and as patients. We were all members of one human race with the goal of healing the sick and sending them home ready to become productive citizens in our world.
We had a common purpose to fulfill a lofty goal—healing. We worked together. If there were slackers, I didn’t notice.
Conclusion: working together with common purpose and meaningful, valuable aspirations enabled us to see each other for the exquisite example of humanity we all are.
At this point in our social-cognitive evolution, there are enormous challenges, ubiquitous changes, and frightening scenarios of the immediate and not too distant future that may be terrifying all too many of us. Perhaps that is why too many are running off the rails.
Therefore, I propose we focus on all that is driving us nuts and collectively focus on working together to find solutions for the problems besetting us. The Gen Dread folks remind us that climate change consequences are already critical and we really need to face it and work on the problem (
) I am convinced it is totally irresponsible and ultimately will be self-defeating if we continue to defer a full assault on climate change. When I first began studying ecology in 1975, the evidence was there for the coming energy, water, food and environmental crises that are now full blown in some areas. Human survival may not be at stake, but human comfort and ease definitely are. A whole community on the coast in Louisiana has already been displaced (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/160525-isle-de-jean-charles-louisiana-sinking-climate-change-refugees).
We as individuals can make a difference. Here are 6 steps everyone can take to make a difference at https://www.nbcnews.com/better/science/6-ways-ordinary-people-can-prevent-climate-change-according-researchers-ncna926311
I find that since I’m taking steps in the right direction, I feel justified in asking my political entities, city, county, state and national to take steps to fight climate change, and we can do that as community! Let’s do letter-writing campaigns as a group with our local faith community, at a local community center or community college, at parent teacher meetings or as part of a club meeting, quilting bee or poker night—we all need to be in on this because we and our children and grands are being affected. Even your local library could be a great site to have a group letter writing, maybe an OP ED to your local newspaper: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/direct-action/letters-to-editor/main.
Once I know I and others are doing what we can at the individual level, I feel empowered to say to larger entities that have a greater impact than individuals to begin to change their ways. There are things business can do to make a difference, and we can point it out to them: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/03/24/actions-businesses-can-take-to-fight-climate-change/?sh=a887a4f3379f
Once you find a venue and set an agenda, publicize it widely with a sincere invitation for diverse members of your and nearby communities to come together in common purpose. Once you are together, step outside your comfort zone, admit you want to meet people, and get to know one another. Working together will enable us to be reminded that just about everyone has very similar goals and wants everyone to achieve their greatest, as that will benefit us all. As we work with and within diversity, we come to know others better than ever before, and as our community strengthens, we will have less reason to fear others and develop greater certainty that others are there for us.
In the process we and our environment will develop greater resilience and sustainability and everyone involved will feel more supported and be more productive—that’s a win-win.
And that’s a wrap.
Postscript: In the 2 days since I posted this newsletter a black guy and a Hispanic guy have shot multiple people for ridiculous reasons: a basketball rolled into the first guys yard and he shot a little girl in the face and put her dad in the hospital with bullet wounds and a cheerleader accidently got into the second guys car, thinking it was hers, and he shot her and her friend and one of them in is the hospital. Why was an apology not enough, for crying out loud?
To be reminded of how bad it has become, I recommend "A New
Corner of Hell" by Daniel Reeves at https://www.birchbarkediting.com/microlit-almanac/hell-reeves