Sandwich Saturday plus a note from me about things.
/You can start ordering today for Sandwich Saturday. We will be running our food for pickup at Art Boutiki from 12-4 PM on Saturday To order from our online menu click HERE.
Obviously a lot has gone on in the world since our message and I have not really found the words to describe how I was feeling and make a stand. It’s not that I didn’t support people protesting or that I felt Black Lives Matter, I just did not really have a nice way of summing it all up. Thankfully a friend of mine helped me form my thoughts.
This friend, a writer named Brian McDonald whom I published 28 years ago. The book I published was a children’s book style comic called Harry the Cop. It was about a racist cop and was inspired by what happened to Rodney King and was released just as the trial of the officer who beat King was ending.
I wrote to Brian recently and lamented that nothing seems to have changed in 28 years. He wrote back pointing out that Harry was released 27 years after the Watts Riots, which were also ignited by police brutality, and here we are basically 27 years later saying that this seems to be a generational thing. He concludes, and I am going to quote him:
“For me the problem is when the white people I know insist that their reality is reality and they with, much confidence, dismiss mine. This seems to be the heart of the problem. If people could believe that the everyday lived reality of others might be incomprehensible to them and that they would learn more listening than talking we might beat this thing. Otherwise, I will see you back in in 27 years.”
Brian recently gave a TED talk style talk, which I implore EVERYONE to go watch, you can see it here.
The point I am trying to make here is that yes, there is indeed systemic racism in the police force, however it is fed by the systemic racism in society and by the prejudice, bigotry and racism that exists in the world around us and that maybe the stuff that we sometimes gloss over as people, the inability to actually see and understand another person’s experience is all part of that problem.
Beyond being a great writer and storyteller, Brian McDonald is a really great individual and a better man than I. Brian managed to find empathy with a man who murdered his brother in cold blood, something I could never do. Go watch the video.
The problem with police isn’t just a systemic racism, it is this overwhelming sense of blue privilege that seemingly permeates itself throughout all levels of law enforcement. The notion that the badge they wear is a shield from the rules that govern the rest of us.
Case in point on a couple of occasions I have been approached by some people in law enforcement to book Art Boutiki for private events, asking me to do some things that I cannot do (stay open very late, allow the service of hard liquor) telling me their badge would keep me out of trouble in case someone made issues. When I declined to bend the rules for them they took their business elsewhere.
Cops, even the ones who aren’t bad people or racists by nature feel that they are above the law because they ARE the law. That saying works for Judge Dredd but does not work in the real world. When I watched the murder of George Floyd I was sickened , not just because I was watching something sickening, no just because this guy was a racist, but because what I was seeing was man with a badge acting without fear reprisal.
So, yes, the police need to change but the overhaul needs to be pretty complete. They will not be able to address systemic racism unless they also address this notion of Blue Privilege.
In addition, we ALL need to change, we ALL need to be better because the police in our country come from our community. They ARE us and denying that fact will only keep the cycle going. All the protesting in the world, all the demands for change, they will mean nothing if we do not point our protests inward and demand change from ourselves as well. You cannot legislate the hatred out of someone’s heart. That all starts with us.
And, yeah, by us I mean us white people.
I may not live another 27 years, but I do not want my theoretical grandkids to have to see what I am seeing now in the world even once except for maybe as a point of historical reference.
Brian McDonald is a great writer and storyteller because he knows how to listen. So, let’s all start listening.
