"What do you think about what’s happening?"

 June 2, 2020

This morning Bill, a good friend of mine, asked: "What do you think about what’s happening?"  (Referring to the demonstrations and racial unrest.)

Knotty question, since we live in a world with novel problems and this conflict appearing intractable. Though the problems are exceedingly complex and have many tangled parts, we might recognize that what is required is a way of thinking that allows for many insights, many answers.

Short answer or long answer?


Short answer: "To offer consolation to those who are suffering." 

Long answer:  I remember Descend into the Particular, a podcast by Malcolm Gladwell on the topic of Police Shootings. 

Click HERE for Malcolm Gladwell podcast

Were we to have this listening experience in common, it might have the effect of better positioning us to share our thoughts especially if views superficially appear to be in polar opposition.  

Epiphany:  Polar opposites appear to clash only because there has yet to be a dive deep enough to discover what they have in common.

For this podcast Gladwell brought together four people with four different points of view under the umbrella of this quote:

Íñigo López de Loyola faced  a version of the same world we face today, filled with novel problems and intractable conflict, and he gave his followers a set of moral instructions: to set aside principle, to descend into the particular, to listen closely. Why? Because only then "can you fulfill one of the most important human obligations, to offer consolation to those who are suffering.” --I. Loyola?

This is the first part of the long answer…

Part 1: Follow this link Click HERE https://public.simonsays.ai/AXqKjRV1Kken/revisionist-history-s04-e0311/2kp07kG10ZRr

This link lands at a package of podcasts, Season 4 Episodes 3-11. The blue arrow points to a dropdown menu, 

Select E07.

I recommend the interactive transcript where it is important to know who is speaking:

• MG= Malcolm Gladwell,
• PN=Phillipe Navarro, brother of Angel Navarro, shot 27 times, SBC.
• RM=Ron Martinelli, police weapons expert on shootings
• CB=Chiraag Bains, lawyer and principal author of the Justice Department report on “Policing in Ferguson.”
• at 15:55 into the podcast, Bains is at the foundation of the answer to your question …. 
• MS=New Mexico victim who called the police just prior to the Angel Navarro shooting. 

From the transcript, according to Ron Martinelli:
10% of police shootings are SBC, Suicide by Cop.         

Being a Police Officer is hard… they face a world filled with novel problems and intractable conflict, and are not fully trained, nor do critical moments allow a descent into the  particular, to listen closely, to offer consolation. 

As work unfolds to address inequity, one path is to launch from this platform:  To  "fulfill one of the most important human obligations, to offer consolation to those who are suffering.”

June 5, 2020 On Friday, Bill sent this text with a link to his grandson's first YouTube video. 

Toby, not sure you met my grandson C___

when he was at the beach with me for TaiChi. 

He’s 13 and this is his first YouTube video.

Let's watch C’s video together as the next step.  

[C is 13:  his name with held pending parental permission.]

Warning: Video includes violent scenes. Parental discretion advised.

You've completed Step 1 of ??? intended to include the many different eyes not yet brought together to prepare for either illuminated participation in making our's an equitable world or at minimum to better understand how a humanistic future will unfold. 

June 6, 2020
Bill, ask C and his parents to join our dialog.

June 6, 2020, 11:18 am

  
“Wow, Bill and C___, I am so moved!!! C___, you are my hero because you instill faith in our future as you are using your voice and your talents for good!    No wonder your grandfather is bursting with pride!!!”   --Patricia Vining

Now.  Step 2:  Episodes 5 and 6 bring deeper insights into this admonition to offer consolation. Listen to both episodes. 


Step 3 Listen to or read: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.  Trevor was born in South Africa, where his mother taught him how to navigate South African apartheid¹.


Step 4 We watched American Son last night, which might be an illuminating experience to share.  We will press this idea with greater thoughtfulness and recommend it at that time.


Footnote:

1.  Apartheid was characterized by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap [white supremacy] which ensured that the minority white population dominated South Africa politically, socially, and economically.  

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