Nobody should have to argue for the legitimacy of their anguish, but that’s where America finds itself in this season of violence.
African Americans, who have long been subjected to a more aggressive brand of policing, are victimized yet again – the video evidence streaming on an endless loop. They take to the streets and social media in hopes America will at last see their collective suffering in the lifeless faces of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Law enforcement officials, who live each shift in increments of dangerous split seconds, bury five in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge. The officers see that the nation grieves, but they can’t shake the feeling that those who wear the badge are alone in the depth of their mourning.
Like the rest of the world, peace-loving Muslims watch the latest mass murder in Nice, France, with horror. They must be horrified, too, that the word that identifies their faith must be qualified with labels such as “peace-loving,” an indignity meant to separate them from madmen.
Terror in all its forms guarantees outrage, and outrage is never conducive to thought. That, too, is where America finds itself today.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
It is not naive to condemn the actions that led to the deaths of two black men while at the same time rejecting the reflexive indictment of the entire system of law enforcement in America.
There is nothing insensitive about mourning Sterling, Castile and eight police officers equally – all of them victims within a shared tragedy.
To refuse to eye all Muslims with suspicion no matter how many killers share their faith is not to be soft on immigration or terrorism but to be a steward of the very spirit that guided the hands of the nation’s founders.
The political leaders who profit most from division are experts at undermining unity. They will, for example, publicly condemn the way President Obama expresses his sorrow for fallen officers rather than ask him what they can do to help heal national wounds. They demand, too, that he use their charged words to describe the network of killers spilling blood in the Middle East and around the globe even though they know the use of those words by the president will help the murderers recruit even more murderers.
Pro-Obamacare or anti-Obamacare? Pick one. Pro-life or pro-choice? Pick one. Pro-gun or anti-gun? Pick one.
Step to the left or right, but God help the elected official who walks toward the middle because it’s littered with the political corpses of reasonable people.
This is America, land of all or nothing.
The rigid brand of political patriotism that is one of the manifestations of “all or nothing” – and will undoubtedly be on display at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week – is, in fact, antithetical to actual patriotism.
How can anybody derive their national pride from the subjugation of those with whom they disagree or fear? How can a true patriot reject the legitimacy of an entire population’s suffering? How can a true patriot not only embrace division but help facilitate it?
There are a lot of people hurting in America right now, and the pain of one does not invalidate the pain of another. What this country needs now more than ever is leaders with boundless compassion and an empty agenda – thoughtful people who desire unity more than they crave political victory.
If they exist, let them step forward now and lead.