FERGUSON: DO WE "GET IT" ?

Less than a month since the protests began in Ferguson, there is some good news.  People of different faiths, colors and economies are extending their interest and assistance in building bridges between them and people in the Ferguson Community.


Yet, there are many of us who still don't get it! We are still reluctant to understand what really happened in Ferguson, Missouri and other cities across the country.


We still talk past each other instead of listening to each other.  We want quick answers! We are not ready to pickup our responsibility as voters to do the work of maintaining and furthering government that reflects and respects all people.


We are still ready to accept and elect, or worse yet not vote at all, officials who refer to us as great blubs like "the poor," or "the unemployed," or the "disabled or the elderly," while short changing many of us on opportunities for education, health services, or to earn fair wages.


We are still listening to and supporting local and national figures who attribute real, everyday problems to "political correctness," or some other scary" ism.  We still believe that what happens   "elsewhere" cannot happen in the suburb or city or region or place where we live.


We are still fearful of looking each other in the eye, much less of greeting strangers. We are still knit-picking at accounts of where and how Ferguson took place. Was it on a street or a highway?  Should the National Guard have been sent for instead of according the state trooper credit for bringing order to an unimaginable civil uprising.


Yes, Ferguson is beginning to show that many of us do "get it," but until we begin to exert our power in conversations with each other, or take the time to write to our newspapers or to tweet or  to vote at the ballot box, we will have "lost" it.

IS AMERICA FERGUSON?

On August 8 I celebrated my 85th birthday in the well-appointed Florida home of my brother and sister-in-law. I was toasted with good food, and music performed by my children, daughter-in-law grandchildren and nieces and nephews and their spouses.


I spent several days catching up on family news and family myths and stories.  I marveled at how much children had grown and listened to what they wanted to do next.


That light-hearted atmosphere lasted until my grandchildren used their tweeters to tell us the news of the shooting of Michael Brown gunned down on a small street in Ferguson.  We left Florida on August 13 and I returned to my apartment in University City, about seven miles from Ferguson.




My apartment is in a retirement community  where my neighbors include people who live independently and those who require daily care givers to assist them.  I have become friendly with many of these care givers and my building's staff who live in and around Ferguson and I was anxious to talk with them.




Because I respect their intelligence and the understanding and kindness they show the people they
serve I asked them to tell me what they could about Ferguson.  I learned that the problems in Ferguson have been festering for a long time.


From our conversations I gathered a lack of accountability by public servant and office holder was a given, a part of  daily life.  When I asked them if they wanted to give me some examples of what they meant, this is what they told me.




" I nail the windows in my house shut for safety."  "I had a grandchild killed by a stray bullet while he was playing."  "Looting is not who we are."  "I've raised my son who is now a pastor in our Church and is a bus driver." "I wish the noise would just stop and everybody would go home." "My community is more stable because we are home owners not apartment dwellers."


From these general conversations with people, I found that there is a protectiveness about St. Louis, this State and our country. People seem to find it difficult to speak of problems. We attribute threats to our safety to the fault of others, to "outsiders", to "the press" while we do little to decry the dangerous break down of law and order we witness.


We accept arrogance by local, state and national elected officials when they flaunt federal laws or make a mockery of this country and of the decency that has been a part of it and ourselves for so long.


We accept the fact that militaryvehicles are now used with zeal to patrol our streets.We accept the fact that guns once thought to be used in the "wild west" are now "must have"" items in our homes.


  What has happened to us as a people that we elect and accept the appointment of officials that allow the body of a young man to lay in his own blood on a public street for hours as if he were on a battle field of war?


What has happened to us as a people when we are lulled into a false sense of security against "enemies" rather than recognize the greed and power that eats away at our lives?


What has happened to my country when we believe that what has happened in Ferguson Missouri
is the result of "outsiders", or the press or tweeters?


It is time to stop pointing fingers and recognize that what is happening in Ferguson Missouri is happening to each of us.


We are Ferguson!

"FINAL SOLUTION!" AGAIN?

I grew up in a family who discussed current events at the dinner table.  Differences of opinions were expressed sometimes with passion and sometimes with supporting text from newspaper writers, authors, friends, and the experience of grandparents and older generations..


The images and sounds from those dinner table exchanges remain with me still.  Two words  in particular could evoke  fear in me and still do.  Those words , "final solution" produced a clammy chilly feeling along with nightmares.


Today, when I hear or see the word "solution" applied to complex issues or programs like gun control, or disputes between people or nations or political parties, I am still uneasy. In 2014, issues around the world and domestically need much more than quick "solutions" to be understood.


We dare not be afraid to ask hard questions as we seek remedies. Nor can we be frightened  by having our allegiance to fairness tested as we look at history.


Two columns in The New York Times (8-13-2014) helped me better understand the surge of
anti-Semitism and how the war between Israel and Hamas could be won.  The first "Why Americans See Israel the Way They Do" by Roger Cohen, and "How This War Ends" by Thomas L. Friedman gave me much to think about.


If we begin to listen, respect and seek out differences of opinions and experiences maybe we can begin to work with people around the globe toward a quieter time when children can sleep peacefully
and safely without worrying about "final solutions."