by Irene Daniel
I remember waking up on the morning of June 5, 1968 to the sounds of my mother sobbing into a bath towel. Robert Kennedy had been shot in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic Primary just the night before. A few months prior to this event, we had all witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta.
And there were riots all spring and summer long, in this year of violence kicked off by the TET offensive in the Vietnamese war; which led of course to more protests and civil unrest of all kinds, all across the country. It was a year of many horrors for us.
Many writers and pundits have remarked upon the many similarities between the election year of 1968 and this one. The violence, racial tensions, economic inequality and lack of meaningful opportunities for Americans of all stripes, all seemingly coming to a crashing crescendo at convention time. Frankly, and not to minimize the shock of multiple assassinations and riots, I think this Year of the Monkey is even worse than that of 48 years ago.
It's worse because we should know better by now.
The vivid memory of that morning in June in 1968 stands out for me because of the extraordinary shock felt all over the nation and around the world. This was something that didn't happen very often. We can't say that anymore. Turning on the TV and witnessing some out-of-this-world insane violence is, woefully, no longer uncommon. Sometimes there are multiple such events in one week, as we have recently experienced in Louisiana, Michigan and Texas. Are we getting too used to this?
I don't want to get into the weeds of statistics of measured violence; I am just expressing what it feels like to me as an American. The frequency of these horror-filled events, as well as the variety and diversity of their targets and victims, just seems scarier and more immediate to me. I'm glad I don't live in a big city anymore.
It happens to people who are black, Muslim, Mexican and other people of color who are disproportionately targeted by police. It happens to people in churches. It happens to people at the movies, at the grocery store, at work, at school, and on and on. It seems that any one of us at any time could be taken out by a bullet. Life is cheap, and cheaper for some than others.
I won't take this space to blame and shame or to pretend that I have a solution. I don't. None of us can find a solution by blaming and shaming our fellow Americans. I think we're getting a little too used to that merry-go-round too.
The frequency of violence, lack of civility combined with the intensity of vitriolic rhetoric -- 50 years post Civil Rights Movement mind you, make this year feel much worse, much scarier than 1968, in my opinion. And we haven't even begun the conventions yet!
On this Bastille Day, a testament to French Liberty and an international dateline of demarcation, I hope that celebrating freedom comes to mean more than the right to hate whomever you choose.
And as I write this, I learn of another disaster of violence in Nice, France, as they celebrated Bastille Day.
Please, let's not get used to hearing this kind of news.
Copyright 2016, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
As an expat UK citizen, living in New Zealand, I have had a strong interest in studying the USA from afar. Yes, I did once visit the United States and had a most enjoyable experience - that was back in 1968. Since then I have followed the American culture by subscribing to some of the main newspapers, seeing news items on TV, reading books and hearing what American authors from around the States tell me (I run a book promotion site, beezeebooks.com, and speak often with some of the authors). All this adds up for me to form some sort of opinion on the American way of life and what needs to done over the next ten years for it to avoid total destruction.
ReplyDeleteAmerica was a mighty power, today it appears to be losing its way (as all empires do at some stage). Perhaps it will go bankrupt; or there seems a possibility the States will break away (I see that Texas is making such noises). Maybe it will simply implode on itself, much like the Roman Empire did long ago and, in more recent times the British Empire, caught up in wars it could ill afford.
Purely from my personal viewpoint, the USA needs to unite its people and educate them in caring for each other, regardless of race or colour. That by itself will take years to achieve, the country simply has too much hatred ingrained due to past injustices. But it's not just the colour of a person's skin; religion brings its own hate problem - even in your universities we hear of Jews being tormented and now, more than ever before, we read and hear of a distrust with the Muslin population.
Lately we have heard of police shootings, killing black people. How can you trust a system that allows three hundred million guns to be in private hands when thousands are dying every year as a result of these guns. Can nothing be done to stop this mass killing? Is it simply too late?
Unfortunately we can't wave a magic wand and make people more loving and caring towards each other; if we could the problems would be all solved. But what can be done is to elect people who want a better America and are prepared to have policies that will unite people in this goal.
Thanks you so much for your comments. I wonder why too many Americans can't seem to grasp that the problem is hatred and the solution is unity. Sometimes it's easier to see from a distance. I really, really appreciate your comment. I hope that more of us can engage in thoughtful conversations such as your comments provoke. Unfortunately, I'm not expecting that anytime soon. Please keep sharing your thoughts with me. I can't tell you how delighted I am to hear your voice. id
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