Kenosha: A failure in empathy

I live in Kenosha, the epicenter of America’s latest tragedy. I’m not an American, but I live in America. I think this gives me a fresh perspective on the troubles plaguing this country – I’m almost an outsider looking in – and I have been looking in on local attitudes for years now.

Things here are complicated. It would be all too easy to just place all the blame squarely on racism, or to just go along with the views of most white males here (that is, everything bad that happens is the fault of people for not complying with the system).

People here treat me very well. Either they see their ancestors in me, or at least they see me as somehow classy and exotic (I am after all, English). I haven’t once received prejudice as an immigrant, almost always I actually benefit from my status. Yet, I see very clearly that there is a stronger social hierarchy here than even in Britain, and I can see very clearly that those high up on this hierarchy usually are very disinterested in the plights of those lower down it. People with money spend it on luxuries. The marina is full of very expensive yachts. People drive around expensive trucks or SUVs that they mostly do not need. Families live in huge suburban houses in beautiful neighborhoods. Yet, a brief walk from areas where people are doing great, there is urban decay. The old heart of Kenosha, car production, is now just a massive desolate field in the middle of the city. People beg at intersections, or stumble across streets not looking where they are going. People shoot each other, presumably rival gangs contesting over sale of opiates to the dispossessed. Inner city big box stores have all been shut down and moved to the suburbs leaving a food desert (apart from very crummy local stores selling very low quality processed foods).

I can’t say how America used to be, but talking to locals I get a sense things used to be different. People used to trust each other more. People weren’t so divided. Perhaps the problem of explicit racism has declined (lynchings, stores not serving black people, parents not letting their kids race-mix), but instead the left and right wings – or the rich and the poor – seem to be at each other’s throats (and for historically racist reasons, black people tending to be the poor). Maybe it was 9/11 that broke people’s sense of hope, followed by the lack of consideration that social media breeds, and a realization in the board rooms of corporate news channel that division boosts their ratings and accuracy and good reporting gains them nothing. Anyway, we are where we are now.

As anyone reading this surely knows, a cop shot a black guy roughly 7 times in the back in front of his kids. And, since then, pandemonium has been brought to our streets. Just last night two of the protesters were shot dead by an armed militia man.

It seems to me that America as a whole, has a major empathy problem.

How does a police officer think that someone going to their car, a car containing their kids, is planning to go get a gun and have a shoot out with multiple police officers? Does he think the guy is some kind of animal, more likely to go on an irrational rampage, than perhaps just try to evade arrest or tend to his kids? Is a 1% likelihood of serious threat to an officer worth killing someone over?

How does a police officer decide that he should shoot someone 7 times in the back, rather than doing one of any number of ways to restrain someone?

How do people on social media think that if someone doesn’t completely comply with the cops, that they deserve to die? (“Play Stupid Games Win Stupid Prizes”)

How do people see someone who is beaten down as a part of an underclass, and expect that person to act with grace, day in day out? Denied opportunities from the day they are born, likely regular suspicions placed on them by the police (evidence). It’s very easy to sit in your ivory tower, saying how people should behave – but it’s something very different for someone who has big struggles that you don’t. And even if most people can, the world is statistical – some people are more or less likely to do the wrong thing, but if they are more stressed and oppressed than others, the curve is bent.

How do people see other’s suffering and they decide them having a nicer car is more important than social programs to give people a better start in life? I know what most of y’all are thinking, “I earned what I have, why should I have to give it away to some low-life who hasn’t earned anything?”. So then, how do people who are winning at life fail to realize that their success is at least partly to do with privileges they have? I’m not even necessarily talking about ‘white privilege’, it may just be the privilege of being born into a middle class family, having a stable childhood, being smart, not having a mental illness, or ending up in the right profession through dum luck. And even if you think this is all nonsense, how can you see people suffering and turn a blind eye even if it is someone else’s fault? Most of y’all claim to be Christians, don’t people deserve a second chance?

How can people see people who legitimately are trying to address what they see as injustice, and call for these protesters to be all rounded up and arrested (Freedom of assembly, anyone)? How can people fail to see that among those out, there is a mix of peaceful protesters, rioters, looters, and full on insurrectionists? It’s not very hard to avoid labeling a whole group of people something. But selfish people want their narrative to be righteous, and the tiniest consideration for anybody else is too much a cost for them.

How do people look for any excuse to justify an act of violence, when those excuses have absolutely nothing to do with the events that played out? So what if the guy has done some terrible crimes in the past if those have no realistic connection to the events of his shooting? People would rather find an excuse than invest in compassion.

And then we have the rioters (not protesters, rioters specifically). “No Justice, No Peace” they chant – but they give no opportunity for justice to be carried out. After the shooting, the case was promptly passed to state jurisdiction to try and avoid conflicts of interest. It may well be that the result would be unjust, but moving straight to the destruction of innocent people’s property and businesses without waiting a couple of weeks for an investigation displays yet more lack of empathy. “People’s lives are more important than things” is presented, as if there’s some kind of dichotomy involved – either one case of justice is immediate (and how would that be justice?), or all property should be put in jeopardy. There’s no plan here, only rage. “An eye for an eye and the world goes blind”, Gandhi once said – people should listen. The destruction of people’s livelihoods is no small thing; people kill themselves over far less.

How do we not all call out in anger when looters give a guy a serious head injury for simply trying to defend his business using a fairly benign approach? [he was spraying people looting his business with a fire extinguisher]

I am not concluding that rioting is not necessary sometimes. However, people are very quick to conclude that it is necessary. Or at least, people very often will avoid condemning it, and therefore tacitly support it. Perhaps sometimes violent revolution is necessary. After all, this country was founded on it – and freedom from slavery depended on it – but I’ve yet to see a serious attempt to show that this extreme course of action will (a) work and (b) is the only path and (c) won’t have massive blow back. Speaking personally, the very last thing I want to see is Trump reelected.

America – you need to learn to love each other again. You don’t need to always agree, but before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. Take the time to understand their positions, rather than sitting in judgment over them. Give people the benefit of the doubt, and talk to them. Grow together, not apart from each other.