Why are we crying?

Good morn or evening friends

Here’s your friendly announcer

I have serious news to pass on to every-body

What I’m about to say

Could mean the world’s disaster

Could change your joy and laughter to tears and pain

It’s that

Love’s in need of love today

Don’t delay

Send yours in right away

Hate’s goin’ round

Breaking many hearts

Stop it please

Before it’s gone too far

The force of evil plans

To make you its possession

And it will if we let it

Destroy ev-er-y-body

We all must take

Precautionary measures

If love and peace you treasure

Then you’ll hear me when I say

- Stevie Wonder, “Love’s In Need Of Love Today”

As I sit here composing this piece and Stevie Wonder’s piercing and prescient tune plays softly and wistfully in the background, my tears are flowing involuntarily and steadily. Earlier today, having read the Sunday Times and consumed a fair amount of media updating us on the chaos in our country at present, my wife and I just sat in my study crying. So, too, with many of our fellow parishioners during our Zoom-based worship service even earlier today: tears flowed freely as the Rev. John Mennell related the spirit of Pentecost to the current morass in our society and called upon us to live into the challenge of spreading light in this dark time.

Why are we crying?

We’re crying because the country we love seems to be coming apart at the seams.

We’re crying because so much hateful behavior has assaulted us so indelibly yet again in such a short period of time.

We’re crying because George Floyd is just the latest in a long line that stretches back to our country’s founding … and we fear that he won’t be the last.

We’re crying because there’s so much pent up pain now showing itself in anger.

We’re crying because there’s been so much needless suffering dispensed by those who’re sworn to serve and protect us.

We’re crying because the latest evidence of our inhumanity is piled on top of tragically disparate impacts from a global pandemic.

We’re crying because we’re scared for our individual and collective futures.

And we’re crying because we’re actually among the fortunate but fear that we can't really help or protect those less so, or, truth be told, even ourselves....

As for my wife and I, we’re crying because Christian Cooper, who was recently threatened with potential #DeathByPolice for #BirdingWhileBlack, is a college classmate of mine, which reminds me and my friends and family that it could’ve been me or any one of us.

And we’re crying because we’re the parents of two young African-American males who’re especially at risk at this moment, and whom, we’re reminded, we can’t really protect when they’re living their lives out in this ever crazier, maddening and saddening world.

And….

This will be the first piece that I’ve ever written – of the almost 250 now – that I’ll publish in every medium that I use: via my blog, on LinkedIn, via Facebook and through both my personal and professional Twitter accounts. For those who interact with me via my blog or Facebook or my personal Twitter feed, it’ll feel familiar if, as it is, more pained. For those who interact with me via my LinkedIn or my professional Twitter accounts, it may feel uncomfortable largely because it’s more personal, which means more emotional (and you know how reluctant we are to share authentic emotion in professional contexts). But this is far too important a moment not to address it in all of its pain and yet hopeful possibility.…

In case you haven’t figured out by now, I’m an African-American male in my 50s, which is itself a real interesting experience in modern America generally and in the modern American business world in particular. I’ve been privileged to do meaningful work serving clients and colleagues, which has enabled me to tread the tony environs of executive suites and Persian carpet-covered marble floors. In other words, I’m one of the truly lucky – and grateful – few.

Which means, of course, that I’ve been reminded that I’m a Black man in America – usually in a negative way – regularly, far too often and, on a couple of occasions, potentially lethally.…

And throughout my corporate career – during which I’ve been for many of my majority executive colleagues one of the few if not the only African-American they’ve gotten to know at some depth – I’ve been careful to manage myself and my conduct because I’ve understood that though I’ve led a blessed life and enjoyed a privileged career, I don’t have the Privilege that virtually all of them enjoy. That’s right, race is very real in corporate America and there are different rules for different people, especially people like me who tend to be at best One of the Few and most often The Only.

And, of course, when I leave the office and venture out into the real world, despite the privileges of comfort that I’ve been able to enjoy, though I’m freer to be who I really am, I still have to be careful: one of the realities of race in this country is that in modern America you can never forget that you’re Black or, even more bluntly put, that you’re not one of ‘them,’ meaning the Privileged. (In fact, this is exactly the topic of “The Talk” that African-American parents have always been compelled to have with their children coming of age.)

So, because I manage myself carefully in virtually every environment in which I find myself, I’m able to observe the perspectives and behavior of the members of the dominant group while also being able to appreciate how the experience of being of Color lends itself to different perspectives and behavior.

To make it plain, let’s just say that I wasn’t nearly as surprised as some of my white colleagues by the racially divergent reactions to the OJ verdict.…

Now, mid-way through the third year of the most overtly racist (and misogynistic and heterosexist and nationalistically xenophobic and religiocentrist and…) presidency in my lifetime, as our country explodes in response to the latest revelations of the racism that continues to afflict us, this ‘gift’ of bifurcated vision weighs heavy on me yet again: yes, white America, the ugliness that you see now reflects the delayed expression of the pent up pain of continuous race- and class-based wounds.

And it reflects what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., observed years ago: that riots are the language of the unheard.

By contrast, if you’re Black, no matter how privileged a life you lead, you likely understand (though don’t condone) the vehemence on display, however mystifying it may be to the majority of Americans who’re fortunate to be blissfully unaware of the realities of race in contemporary society (or, at least, who claim to be).

To state it more plainly: as virtually every Person of Color understands, this is why Kaepernick knelt, which far too many and possibly most of our white colleagues, friends and family members still don’t seem to grasp.…

Yet these riots are a bit different in that there’s a new and even more disturbing trend associated with them: as the evidence is beginning to show, many far right (read = reactionary white) groups are stoking the furor by inciting and/or engaging in vandalism that will then most likely be attributed to the demonstrators and/or rioters, who are disproportionately of Color. Yes, Accelerationism is a thing in 21^st century America. And, no, you can’t make that up….

But should we really be surprised? After all, the president’s former senior advisor, Steve Bannon, often spoke about provoking societal confrontations. So, if those closest to the seat of power in our society speak glowingly of such conflagration, and then our chief executive engages in overtly racist (et. al.) behavior – c’mon, let’s not pretend that he didn’t understand the racist provenance of the phrase “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” that he tweeted recently (probably to distract us from his abject failure of leadership during this global pandemic) – why would we be surprised that members of the so-called alt-right see this as an invitation to provoke just such chaos? Clearly, they do. And, no, we People of Color aren’t really surprised.…

Which is the point: race is a reality in our society, though we choose most often to pretend that it’s not. And let me be clear, when I suggest that “we” choose to be oblivious to it, I mean those who enjoy the Privilege of not having to acknowledge or experience it. We People of Color don’t have this option.…

And class is a reality in our society, though we also choose most often to pretend that it’s not. How else can we explain our continuing belief in the American Dream in light of literally decades of data that suggest that educational and social mobility have all but ground to a halt in our country (long before the turn of the millennium) and that the appreciable progress in the past four decades has disproportionately accrued to a tiny percentage of our fellow citizens at the top of the economic pyramid? But here, too, People of Color don’t have the option to pretend, as so few of us have been among the fortunate few, economically speaking.…

And lest you be tempted to trot out that tired old argument that we’ve had a Black president so things clearly can’t be that bad, compare his behavior to that of his successor and just let it go before having to try and twist yourself – and reality – into a pretzel to explain how 44’s generally pristine example is somehow even the least bit comparable to 45’s consistently unconscionable conduct.…

But I digress.…

The main point is that there is great pain in our society today and we imperil the latter in direct proportion to how greatly we fail to acknowledge this reality. It’s the pain of the dispossessed: the tens of millions of People of Color who’re found largely in our urban areas and that of the tens of millions of whites who’re found largely in our suburbs and rural areas. (The fact that we aren’t typically found in the same place should tell you something if you’re paying attention….)

People of Color are hurting and unheard about a lack of educational and economic opportunity where they live, a phenomenon that hasn’t changed in a century since they began to migrate en masse to our cities.

And suburban and especially rural whites are hurting and unheard about a lack of educational and economic opportunity where they live, a phenomenon that’s been accelerating for decades. When you add to this that the benefits of their perceived Privilege are clearly eroding (especially since they’ve had to suffer a Black president and are becoming ever more aware of the ‘Browning of America’ in which they’ll become a statistical minority in a generation’s time), you can then begin to understand the fear expressed as vehemence that’s encouraged and has been on display at virtually all of the president’s rallies.

Or, to keep it real, you can see it in their threatening and anti-social responses to the mere inconvenience of being asked to shelter at home, socially distance and wear masks in public during a global pandemic. C’mon: let’s not pretend that there are any Black folks who’ve even entertained the possibility of arming themselves to the teeth with military-style weaponry and regalia and storming a state capitol to express their inconvenience; that’s not a privilege we’ve ever had.…

And, of course, there are a host of other challenges that both People of Color and their majority fellow citizens who’re members of the working and/or shrinking middle class confront every day that remind them, despite their dogged determination to continue to believe in the American Dream, that it’s slipping through their fingers and becoming more of a fantasy every day.

And yet our politicians and media largely ignore these appreciable challenges to the real world well-being of the vast majority of our fellow citizens every single day. Is it any wonder, then, that they feel unheard and thus angry, and then that this turns into outbursts of anti-social behavior?

Yes, seeing this is uncomfortable, which is why so many of us who’re fortunate enough to be able to look away most often do … except that, occasionally, as is the case now, these ugly realities (re)assert themselves. Realizing that pretending that they don’t exist not only won’t encourage them to go away but will actually tend to amplify them in both number and energy/power, why don’t we choose to begin to address them – and specifically their root causes – right now?

It can start by all of us acknowledging the realities of race in our society.

It can start by all of us acknowledging the realities of class in our society.

It can start by all of us acknowledging the realities of the other -isms in our society (like sexism, heterosexism, nationalistic xenophobia, religiocentrism, etc.).

It can start by us exhibiting more humane behavior, especially compassion and empathy, with our neighbors, and most especially with those who are different than us and live in different places.

It can start by all of us choosing to listen and truly hear our fellow citizens, especially those who are different than us and live in different places.

It can start by all of us advocating for the common good rather than our own narrowly defined interests.

It can start by us demanding more humane behavior, especially compassion and empathy, from our ostensible leaders.

It can start by us demanding more humane behavior, especially compassion and empathy, from those who’ve chosen to protect and serve us.

It can start by all of us acknowledging that we’re cloaked “in a single garment of destiny,” as the Rev. Dr. King observed more than a half-century ago, and that we need to learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we’ll surely perish together as fools.…

Don’t get me wrong, I realize that this will require massive change for each and every one of us, both individually and collectively. I realize that it requires what MLK described as “a radical revolution of values” that even he wasn’t fully convinced that we Americans could achieve. And I realize that if you’re reading this you’re likely one of the most fortunate for whom this country’s current structure largely works, except at times like this when civil unrest reminds us that the fruits of our collective endeavors aren’t particularly equitably allocated, and that making such a change will actually cost you something. So be it.

What’s the alternative?

I fear that if we choose not to change – to take this opportunity to engage in a fundamental reassessment of (the structure of) our society – then what we’re seeing now will happen more frequently and in more costly ways and our post-pandemic ‘new normal’ will contain increasing levels of societal discord and profoundly damaging eruption and disruption. Does any of us really want this?

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I realize that the easy answer is a “no” followed by a lack of action that reveals the real answer, but are we really willing to continue not to learn both from our history and from our lived experience?

God, I hope not … but, then again, if we don’t choose to change now, perhaps often and possibly always, we’ll all end up crying.…

The American nation is to be judged in light of unarmed truth and unconditional love. Because a condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak, the voices of the vulnerable must be heard and their hurt attended to. Because justice is what love looks like in public, the basic security of everyone from domination must be established.…

- The Rev. Dr. Cornel West

in “Hope and Despair,” Shelby and Terry, eds.,

To Shape A New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.