Picking Up the Pieces

I never intended for my page to be a social commentary. I never intended to to spend an entire week writing about civil unrest and race relations. Unfortunately that's all anyone I know has been talking about in the past few days. (Well, that and the death of Joey Ramone....)

Things have calmed down quite a bit here. Last night was the first night since the curfew was lifted, and there were no riots. Perhaps now that the community is actually paying attention, we can start to move forward and start solving problems.

Rosencrantz and I decided that something good might come from all the destruction yet. During the rioting and subsequent curfews, people seemed to be talking to each other, looking each other in the eye. Those of us who weren't out looting buildings were being incredibly friendly to each other, uniting and looking for ways to clean up the mess that our city has become.

However, given the nature of this sometimes very small minded city, I can't say that this apparent change for the good is for certain. While a lot of the community is talking and searching for progress, some people seem determined to keep us in the dark ages. While the mayor puts together a task force to find ways to make our community see without color barriers, others seem intent on remaining judgemental.

I looked through the emailed comments to the local paper about the recent violence, and while some were questioning how we could have sunk this far and let things get this bad, there were more than a few replies that automatically got on the "well, what do you expect?" bandwagon.

Frankly, it pissed me off.

There are still some people that think it was perfectly alright to shoot an unarmed man who was fleeing from the police over mostly traffic violations. There are those who don't understand the impact that "racial profiling" has on the African-American community, and more to the point don't care as long as they stay out of the more affluent neighborhoods. There are still people who think that if we repair the broken windows and get the businesses reopened, then everything else will get swept under the carpet and forgotten. There are still people whho think that the solution to the rioting was more guns, and real bullets as opposed to beanbags. There are still those who think that any protest regarding this situation was inherently bad and damaging, and that the police were justified in what is looking more and more like a drive-by shooting into a peaceful crowd after Timothy Thomas's funeral. There are still people that believe the solution is just to look away, that exercising First Amendment rights in a lawful way is just asking for trouble, and if something goes awry, well then it was just the protestor's fault for being there and speaking up anyway. Maybe, they think, if we pretend that Over the Rhine isn't there, the problem will just take care of itself. After all, they say, only criminals and crack addicts and hoodlums and prostitutes live there, and every last one of them is on welfare. There are still people that believe that crime only happens down there (or is perpetrated by someone from a "bad neighborhood"), and drugs and physical abuse don't take place in the "good neighborhoods."

How do these attitudes help the situation at hand? Why do I get the feeling that these people have never talked to a downtown resident, don't go downtown after dark, are afraid of neighborhoods that aren't 75% white? These are the people that think every panhandler on the corner would slit your throat for a few bucks. (Personally, my worst experiences with panhandlers downtown were always from interactions with older white men; the panhandler that "worked" Vine Street when I started going to the Warehouse was a middle aged black man who would watch your car if you couldn't get a spot in the parking lot for a dollar or two - if you had it to spare. I made a habit of parking in his turf, and he always treated me with respect and kindness, even when I couldn't afford to help him out.)

Why is it that these people never seem to see the crimes perpetrated in their own back yard, by races other than African-Americans? Why is it that most of the violence and threats I've been witness to come from priveleged white males? Oh wait. I'm not supposed to talk about that, am I?

Blame it on the race. Blame it on the neighborhood. Blame it on the music, the TV, movies, video games. Point the finger anywhere but at your own reflection in the mirror.

How do we, as a community, work around deep-seated prejudices like that?

Perhaps this time we'll actually succeed where we've failed before It's time for us that actaully want to get something accomplished to stop sitting on our hands and start changing the world for the better.