Are you having a hard time putting into words what you think about the violence of the past week? I am. I grieve for the families of the gentlemen who were killed in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, and for the families of the police officers killed in Dallas.
Prior to the shootings in Dallas, I would have written – and still believe – that we need to confront pervasive racism in our society and how it has singled out and targeted African-Americans.
It is a legacy of centuries of oppression, but it is also a fact that today bias and discrimination seep into our laws and social practices – including policing, sentencing and employment.
The recent Supreme Court decision upholding minimal affirmative action practices at the University of Texas was an important victory that came after a continuing assault on any effort to recognize that the experience of some people in our society is framed by deep-rooted bias and hatred. That’s true for Native Americans, Latinos and many Asians-Americans, too.
We know that our society has grown more unequal economically, and if you are a person of color, you are most likely to be on the losing end of our economy. Ironically, that is also true of many working-class white people who have lost their jobs and income through the globalization of manufacturing.
But instead of building bonds of fellowship between Americans who share an interest in rebuilding our economy, we have leaders who benefit from tearing us apart.
Donald Trump and others like to say that efforts to combat racism and discrimination – including against women or LBGT people – is nothing more than “political correctness.” Don’t be fooled. The society that Trump and others want is one in which it is safe to be cruel, disrespectful, ignorant and, worse – a society in which there is no room for dialogue, communion and love.
Where does this social cancer lead us? How far has it gone? Those are the questions that strike me as the killings continue, and we see violence beget violence.
We can fight for new laws, new programs – limits on assault rifles to reduce mass shootings or new investments in education to increase opportunity. We should. It is likely that the same proposed assault weapons ban that could have reduced the number of murders in Orlando could also have saved some of the police officers’ lives in Dallas.
I suspect, however, that the reason so many of us are troubled today is we sense that the level of anger, division and incivility in our country is reaching a tipping point.
Real families – real people – are dead today or in mourning and nothing can be done to change that fact. But we can – each of us – commit ourselves to love and fellowship. We can commit ourselves to seeing the world through our neighbor’s eyes.
We can act for social justice regardless of who is suffering.
And we can act in solidarity against voices of hatred and division wherever they are raised.
Eric T. Nakajima, former director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, lives in Amherst. He is a candidate for state representative for the 3rd Hampshire District.