Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun

Monday, July 11, 2016

BLACK AND WHITE COOL NEEDED

as long as we have words
     As we struggle with race in America here's an interesting  perspective. Picture last week's victims of police violence and the murdered police officers in Dallas as children. Picture the executioners as children as well. Reflect on that for a moment-once they all were kids, playful, innocent and not yet ensnared in the virus of racism.
     I heard author Kwame Alexander pose that idea and it cuts to the heart of the matter.  
     I've posted previously about KLAN the documentary I wrote, produced and directed that examined how racism is passed through generations. There are moments when children are free from the poison of hatred. Those are moments of hope and possibility. We become discouraged we cannot evolve or eradicate the psychology and seeds of prejudice. But it does happen. In my study of the klan we heard a young daughter of a klan leader say "...they should shoot all the niggers or put them back in the slave houses."  10 years later in a re-visit of the documentary that girl, now a young woman, apologized explaining how wrong she had been. But it came with a price. She was rejected by her father and thrown out of their home. 

a hot summer in the city
      It was during an earlier season of racial tension when cities were erupting. Dick Lugar was still a relatively new mayor and Indianapolis was in a metamorphosis from an aging rust belt old industrial city to the dynamic place it has become. This was in the early gearing up of the change and there were urban illnesses. His young team of visionaries were treating those malady's bit by bit while constructing a larger dream. It did not help that Cincinnati, Chicago, Gary, St Louis, Columbus, Dayton and other neighboring cities were in varying degrees of trouble and disintegration. It was a time of powder kegs.
      Indianapolis threatened to explode because of sparks coming from an area known as Highland Tech, an old neighborhood that had changed. It was near the Women's Prison, Arsenal Tech, the state's largest high school and bordered by business and industry that had eaten away at a once staid area. Now working class and those barely escaping poverty, black and white mixed and there had been shootings and violence in the streets and alleys. Race violence was suspected. The Black Panther party was thought to be responsible, or so the rumor and "consensus" had it. That was not the case.
       I spent two weeks walking house to house in the troubled area, morning, afternoon and evenings. I talked to everyone who opened the door, some would not, out of fear. I stopped people who were walking, talked with gaggles of people in alleyways, garages, on porches and street corners. One on one and with groups, black, white, those who were new to the neighborhood and long time residents. I spent time talking with Panther leaders. I learned the truth and it was something different than most people thought.
     The Panthers were not involved. In fact the shootings and and violence were the result of a couple of gangs, one a notorious white motorcycle outfit. They were warring over turf and a drug trade. I reported that. It was news to the police department and to activist groups that had been ratcheting up on a false premise. I was thanked by the Mayors office that began to work with neighbors and a neighborhood association, armed with the knowledge of the reality on the street. One racial tinderbox defused, by facts and rationality. 
     Presumptions are akin to prejudice. Both are dangerous.
America needs cool heads, honest talk, frank conversation and a government that is willing to work.
cooling walk
     As swelter and bake describe conditions where some of you reside LightBreezes provides cooling scenes.
   Though blue sky and bright sun adorned our ridge a stroll along a Pacific bluff trail in northern San Luis Obispo County presented a cooling marine fog and brisk breeze. 

    A wetland, fed by a spring creates a vibrant verdancy.






    See you down the trail.

11 comments:

  1. We are ready for some of that cooler weather and moisture.

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    1. You seem to be getting a lot more rain that us. Lets trade a little wx.

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  2. Tom--What you did in Indianapolis was heroic, although you were just trying to be a good journalist. Like you, probably, there are times when you miss being able to effect the kind of change you did there.
    Both of us in a way became exiles when we moved to such a small town out of the fray. I was not far from growing up in L.A. where the Watts riots occurred. In the early 80's I started a nationwide organization to help people who wanted to move to small towns such as Cambria and lived in some in Oregon. But moving away is obviously no solution for most in America dependent on urban jobs. FYI, my high school was fully integrated (we whites were the ones bused to a poor neighborhood!!) and I sincerely hope I don't have a shred of prejudice within me. I read recently, however, that blacks are 2-3 times more likely to be targeted for possible offenses by police officers than whites--again, it's all about false presumptions.
    While I am "self-exiled" to the boonies, I have helped the homeless
    in a variety of ways while in SLO County, and still do. Thanks for this post, I sure hope it gets to some people who do have cooler heads, and have the power to make a difference in our terribly racially stratified society.

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  3. Tom--What you did in Indianapolis was heroic, although you were just trying to be a good journalist. Like you, probably, there are times when you miss being able to effect the kind of change you did there.
    Both of us in a way became exiles when we moved to such a small town out of the fray. I was not far from growing up in L.A. where the Watts riots occurred. In the early 80's I started a nationwide organization to help people who wanted to move to small towns such as Cambria and lived in some in Oregon. But moving away is obviously no solution for most in America dependent on urban jobs. FYI, my high school was fully integrated (we whites were the ones bused to a poor neighborhood!!) and I sincerely hope I don't have a shred of prejudice within me. I read recently, however, that blacks are 2-3 times more likely to be targeted for possible offenses by police officers than whites--again, it's all about false presumptions.
    While I am "self-exiled" to the boonies, I have helped the homeless
    in a variety of ways while in SLO County, and still do. Thanks for this post, I sure hope it gets to some people who do have cooler heads, and have the power to make a difference in our terribly racially stratified society.

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    Replies
    1. Bill, thanks for your kind comments. We are in the boonies perhaps, but the attitudes-the full range-exist here. As best we can we try to contest the racism and narrow mindedness. You have been a strong advocate on another of the critical issues-resource use and conversation and we thank you for your leadership on that.

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  4. Well said, and kudos on the remarkable job you did in Indianapolis. Well done.
    Mike

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  5. I always benefit from your wise and insightful commentaries. I wish we had more people like you working to resolve our problems.

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  6. Stephen, I appreciate your kind words. I've reached an age where at the very least we can try to add a little to the discussion in the public square. For all those years in journalism we tried to be as objective as we could, now we have an opportunity to add commentary.

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  7. Tom, very good post. Your voice of reason and insights are much needed in these times. Hope more people are learning to open their minds to the kinds of thoughts you express.

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