It isn’t brief, but little I write is.
This is copied from my Facebook page, so you might’ve already seen it.
Writing is my livelihood.
It’s how I pay my bills.
It’s how my kids eat, get clothes, and it’s how my mortgage gets paid. I sell books to democrats, republicans, whites, blacks, asians, latinos, and to people all across the globe. I’m lucky.
I’ve always done my best to walk a path of moderation with politics and religion and belief in my social media posts. It’s pragmatic, right? Don’t alienate either side of the aisle. Don’t offend the religious, or the atheistic. Support law enforcement and the military, but also support minorities, and the idea of peace first.
Keep as many potential fans as you can, Chris. It’s how you pay the bills, Chris. It’s how you stay afloat in your writing career, Chris. Shit, I built my entire writing career around a community I built on my website, ten years this summer. I’m good at building communities.
Right now, I’m going to take a stand, and try to build a community. Maybe I’ll do this wrong, but to the people who it matters most to, I hope you see I’m trying to do something right.
Here we go;
I am a college-educated, white man, and I am not afraid of the police. I have encountered them countless times, and have, with damn few exceptions, always been treated with respect. I never worried about the consequences of getting arrested, even if it were to happen. I trusted the system. I’ve never been afraid to walk down a street, never been afraid to go to school, never had to worry about brothers or sisters getting shot in my neighborhood by either police, or neighbors. I never worried about getting school books, or qualified teachers, or school budgets.
I have never been afraid to use my voice.
I am fortunate. I am PRIVILEGED to feel the way I feel about law enforcement. Shit, I am pro-cop, pro law-enforcement. I admire the professional and almost all the men and women who enter it.
The other side of that coin is that when there is a bad cop… They must be held accountable immediately, fairly, and harshly. Police officers (and any public official) trade in trust. It is the currency they earn, and spend. Our trust in them, their trust in us. When that trust is violated, they lose the moral high ground, and we, as citizens, must become wary of them to protect ourselves, until that trust has been restored. Just like currency.
With the black community… that trust has never really existed. Cops were the authority, they were to be obeyed, and that’s that. Don’t like it, tough shit, go to jail.
Can’t get a job because your school district is in poverty, had no budget, and you couldn’t get an education? Well, you’re a piece of shit drug dealer, and it was your choice. Oh, and even if you weren’t a drug dealer, enough people think you MIGHT be a drug dealer, that it’s just better to hire a white guy who’s less qualified, because that feels safer.
No currency, right? Blacks couldn’t earn the trust of police, and the police couldn’t trust blacks, right? No one has any currency to spend with each other. No social commerce can happen with that arrangement.
Look, I am the last guy who knows the black experience in America. I don’t know shit about what that’s like, really.
I do know, that what I see, and hear, from black friends, and black fans–not JUST from the media–scares the SHIT out of me, and I KNOW that it isn’t fair, and I KNOW that they feel squelched, and I KNOW…
I know history. I know how fascist empires began. I know how the rights of the public were usurped in many places, and for less than what’s happening in America, now.
Fuck. I know that I want my daughters to grow up in a world where they can love anyone, be friends with anyone, and feel safe anywhere, and be heard. But if I want them heard…. then everyone must be given that same chance to speak, and be listened to.
A very, VERY smart man said that the riot is the voice of the unheard, and there are a LOT of people who are unheard, and are being ignored right now.
I will not ignore you. I may not understand you, but I damn sure will try. I will TRUST that what you say is real, and I hope that you TRUST that I am listening, and that I want to build a better world, with you.
Anyone who wants to share their experiences with race, life, whatever, is welcome to in the #Ringfamily group.
If you bring hate, you’re gone. This isn’t a debate.
And maybe this is the hill my writing career dies on, and if that’s the case, so be it. I’ll bury my words with a clean conscience, surrounded by people I want around me.