I mean, I don’t pray for anybody. But I send out the good vibes cause I’m not religious but maybe I’m still superstitious. And thinking positively is sometimes all I’ve got left. I try not to do it silently though. Our voices, our thoughts, sometimes it’s all we have to offer, and letting the intended recipient know they’re incoming just helps them along in their receptivity.
Honestly, you all know I spend a lot of time angry. I don’t spend a lot of time pounding that out for the world to see on my keyboard. The Journal is certainly a Publicly Viewed Forum of my thoughts and rages, but this kind of platform has kind of taken a kind of different kind of meaning since Social Medial came along. Kind of.
Kind of no longer kind, though – is the world.
I guess it never was, but I’ve been thinking about content creators, and the responsibilities of being one. And the difference between a Content Creator, an Artist and an Edgelord and The Public… it’s all become so blurred that we treat a Content Creator as if they’re just the Public, give the Public the attention an Edgelord desires, gives the Edgelord the benefit of the doubt that the Public deserves and give an Artist no more attention than the Public receives. It’s just all so blurred.
And so I think a lot, and I don’t reach out to people in an attempt to seem Woke – but with the idea that if you’re a Content Creator you have the responsibility to be understood – and an artist probably has the DESIRE to be understood – the Edgelord deserves to be buried and the Public needs to be reminded that they are heard, visible and judged as if they’d had every bit of the reach, training and intent of any of the other categories. I’d like to think someone would give ME the benefit of the doubt and reach out to say “hey, your fly is down” or “that was kinda racist, did you think it through?” or “you’re kinda close to the ledge” or the edge… or whatever.
Today a friend posted this :
And… that didn’t raise an eyebrow with her friends and family (and she had her post limited to Friends on Facebook) but of course the unsaid part of it is that “hey cops, be alert and maybe shoot first, cause They are out to get you”. And it doesn’t take a leap of the imagination to wonder who They might be. But it IS a leap of the imagination, and I know for a fact this person isn’t saying “hey cops, watch out, black people hate you” – but it’s an interpretation – and it further enables those for whom that IS the “real” interpretation.
I messaged her :
Hey —–. Hope you’re doing well. Looks like you had a good birthday celebration and the world continues despite my usual impression.
We miss you all.
Was thinking about your post today, and context, and social media and how much I hate it all. Running my open mic last night, we have a very mixed performer and audience base and a lot of hard conversations. Sharif (our piano player) is of course a Baltimore City cop and Rowan and Joey are both black men and we’re all in this family together – talking about this stuff all the time. I HATE that I worry about Sharif additionally right now, or close to the election, or Hell – all summer when I know Baltimore’s more heated and people are getting stupid. Or that summer a couple of years ago when surplus armour piercing ammunition hit the streets of Charm City making Sharif’s “bullet-proof” vest a literal joke at the water cooler.
But I also worry about Joey and Rowan driving home from every freakin’ gig and every band practice. Not just during times of heightened tension, but 24/7. Not because I think all cops are racist or because they’re poorly trained – but because we’re all ingesting this horrible message – that someone’s out to GET THEM. Because Rowan, when he’s pulled over, has been told over and over again that the cop’s just as like to shoot him. And the cop that’s pulling him over has been told the day is extremely dangerous for them. And everyone’s on edge. Because they’re told they should be on edge. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But the cop has a gun. And the training to use it. And Rowan and Joey don’t. And most people don’t. People do such stupid things when they’re scared.
Law enforcement officers absolutely get a briefing EVERY morning about whether or not they’ve got targets on their backs on any given day. They (should) know their jobs. 13% of our entire population got that briefing when they were about 6 years old because of the colour of their skin – so definitely say a prayer for them too!
Sermon over. It’d probably be easier to sort who we SHOULDN’T pray for //
Within 24 hours of this post Chauvin’s verdict came down. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Justice for George Floyd? Maybe. A deterrent for other police officers? Possibly. A step in the right direction? Certainly. It’s a slow step in the change we want to see in the world, but we’re thrashing around so erratically – and do we ever know that the jury was solely thinking about George Floyd and Derek Chauvin or were they also thinking about businesses around the country boarding up their main streets because they feared the response NOT “if justice was done” but “if the verdict was not guilty”. That kind of pre-trial conviction is exactly what our system is supposed to avoid.
Guilty until proven innocent in a court of law. I think that’s what has been accomplished. But we are definitely teetering on the edge of innocent unless convicted via social media and popular narrative. On the small scale (like memes and personal narrative) and on a vast national scale as well.
I think I’ve argued before that police custody should come with a full understanding of the WORD “custody” : the protective care or guardianship of someone or something. Police are RESPONSIBLE for the safety and well-being of those under their custody. Freddie Grey, George Floyd… there’s a lot of grey area involved in people killed while resisting, running from or avoiding arrest. But “in custody” is black and white and should be really clarified and codified.
Well, if rob was in charge… sigh. Of course I guess then you discourage an officer from making an arrest because of the legal responsibilities and incentivize other courses of action, but bad people will do bad things. If it was simple…
Yes. This. All of it.