Sunday School 5/31/20

OK, let's dive in to yesterday's classrooms - the beauty of doing this all virtually, right?

I want to focus on some of the women who made the rounds yesterday, all of them leaders, all of them people of color. Let's start with my least favorite classroom - Meet the Press - and Chuck Todd's discussion with DC's Mayor Muriel Bowser and Atlanta's Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

In response to Todd's question about whether things were better Saturday night than on Friday, and if  "we're going to see some calm going forward or no," Bowser said that the "level of just destruction and mayhem among some" people who gathered in the city on Friday night was "maddening", and that they were working with "all of our law enforcement partners to ensure calm" in the capital. She also said that a clear message is being sent to participants that exercising their First Amendment rights is OK but they don't have the right to destroy DC.

Similarly, Lance Bottoms said that "Things were a bit more calm" Saturday than Friday, "but they weren't perfect." Around 157 people were arrested, she said, and that "...all of the issues and all of the concerns and anger that were there on Friday haven't gone away." She also described it as a systemic issue that will take time to fix, but agreed with Bowser that "the solution is not to destroy our cities."

As to there possibly being "outside forces at work," she said what happened in Atlanta, "even just from a physical standpoint, didn't look like our normal protests," adding

We, obviously, have a large African American population in Atlanta. This crowd was a very diverse crowd. And that was noticeable on Friday even before the problems began. We also noticed that many of the protesters even got lost when there was a detour. And many of our organizers in this city, who often don't agree with me, have shared that these were people from the outside. They did not know them. And had no idea where they came from.

Todd then asked Bowser about the "one resident in Washington, DC who ...was backseat driving you on Friday night," referring to the president, of course, and wondered if she thought Trump could play a helpful role.

Well, I think that the president has a responsibility to help calm the nation. And he can start by not sending divisive tweets that are meant to harken to the segregationist past of our country. And he can start by doing that right now. We certainly urge him to do that. We, as Mayor Bottoms has just said, we have systematic issues in our country to address. And it's going to take us, at every level, federal and local... 

Lance Bottoms was asked what she'd like to hear from the president, and if "any of his words could be helpful here."

What I'd like to hear from the president is leadership. And I would like to hear a genuine care and concern for our communities and where we are with race relations in America. We know that when he spoke on Charlottesville, he made the matter worse. And we're already -- we’re well-beyond the tipping point in America. And it's as my grandmother used to say, "If you don't have anything good to say, sometimes you just shouldn't say anything at all."

I don't have an issue with the president of the United States addressing our nation. But I am concerned that this president has a history of making matters worse.

Last word from Bowser, on potential Independence Day celebrations, which the president wants.

Chuck, well, even before the events of the last several days we've been very concerned about large gatherings. We will not be in a position to allow parades in our city while we're still in phase one of our reopening from the Coronavirus.

Todd also talked with Florida Rep. Val Demings, whose interview last week on another network was cut short by technical difficulties, so I'm giving her time this week as well.  The first question? Over the past decade, when something like the murder of George Floyd happens, "there's outrage. The country has some sort of collective conversation about race and inequality..." and not much else happens; he asked why, and what if this time could be different. Not treating it as an individual department issue is one bit thing.

...I do believe the time has certainly come, we are overdue, for us to look at the problem as a nation. I think we all need to pause and every law enforcement agency in this nation, whether they are ten persons or 35,000 persons, need to review their hiring standards, their training standards, look at their de-escalation training that they're doing within the department, look at those officers who train other officers.

We know, she said, that the training officer sets the standard for what's acceptable and what's not. And, she added,

we have to continue to work with our community leaders to build relationships, to foster trust. And we don't wait to do that, you know, when we're in the middle of a crisis. We have to continue to do that every day. And I do believe we are long overdue for every law enforcement agency in our nation to review itself and come out better than before.

Todd wondered if it wasn't "very hard" to get rid of an officer who doesn't meet the chief's and the community's expectations. Demings commended the Minneapolis chief for immediately firing the officers, and having charges quickly brought against the one officer, and that, while it seemed like a long time before charges were filed, "historically, that was a pretty swift arrest..." And, she said, while the federal government doesn't have "direct jurisdiction" there's a big role it can play "in terms of helping law enforcement agencies throughout the nation maybe come up with some standards for hiring and training, especially use of force training."

Pointing to all that's gone on over the past few months - the impact of the pandemic on people of color, and the high profile incidents of racism, two involving law enforcement, Todd wondered what it all means from a governing perspective, and what Demings thought about "direct help, direct aid to African American communities to sort of fix these injustices." 

Referencing President Lyndon Johnson in her response, she said he knew that it was not only hiring and effectively training the best and brightest; he also said "But we have to address those social ills that cause decay in African American communities in the first place. We have to look at economic development. We have to look at jobs. We have to look at wages. We have to look at education."  Adding her own thoughts, she said

... some believe that, you know, in order to be fair, if you will, that you treat communities the same. Well, it's not that simple, unless communities all start in the same place and we know that's not true... racism in America and the injustices that comes with it is nothing new. And so we have to get serious about, number one, admitting there is an issue. And number two, working together.

She also said some leadership from the top would help, although she doesn't "know why I would expect this president to do something that he has never done before..."

That led Todd to ask what she'd say to Trump if he called her and asked for her help on what to say. Well, there's "showing some compassion for" the families who have lost loved ones; there's talking about America being "great and wonderful because of the beautiful diversity we have in this country, that we are a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of laws, but we are a nation of immigrants. And we have to work together." And then, 

maybe we begin today by acknowledging the sins of the past and even said things that he has said and done that caused harm and brought pain to the American people.

Yeah, like that'll ever happen - either that he'd ask for her help, or that he could deliver that message with even a drop of the emotion he used when describing American carnage in his inaugural address...  

Finally, let's spend some time with perhaps the most or second-most despised member of Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who visited This Week with George Stephanopoulos. George asked if things were more under control Saturday, with the National Guard, than earlier in the week. 

I think, last night, the community did feel safe to know that there will not be a burning of their businesses and their homes. We were obviously worried and feeling terrorized about that prospect, but there really was also many people who chose to demonstrate and not abide by the curfew, who felt like they also were terrorized by the presence of tanks, by the presence of the National Guard and a militarized police. And so, for us, it's -- what we are trying to do is try to figure out something between extreme aggression and ways to figure out how not to get our city burned down. And it's a challenge.

The country is in pain, she added, and people can't get the image of George Floyd out of their minds, but it reminds us that "we are living in a country that has truly, for a long time, brutalized African-Americans, from slavery, to lynching, to Jim Crow, to mass incarceration, and now to police brutality."  And she pointed to Minneapolis having "some of the worst racial disparities, people are also understanding that there have been severe social and economic neglect in our communities." We have "real work to do" she said, to "figure out a system that works for all of us."

George asked, now that one officer's been charged, "what more must be one to deliver justice here?" She said that often, even if justice isn't denied outright, it's delayed. People are looking for justice to take place, including charges for the other officers who stood by and did nothing.

But, also, we need nationwide reforms. We also need to make sure that the kind of investment that we are making in our communities is a real one. We are living in a country that has a two-tiered justice system. And people are tired of the -- people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. And we need to really step back and say to ourselves, where do we actually go from here? And that can't just be getting justice for George Floyd. It needs to be bigger than that.

On the question of how peaceful protests turned violent - whether it's "far left thugs and Antifa" as the president says or "outside instigators from the right" as others have suggested, George wondered what information Omar had on who might be joining the protests. She said that not just here but around the world, we see unrest that stems from people truly being fed up, saying they've had enough, looking for "bold and systemic change;" at the same time,

And what we also know to be true, not just here, but across the world, is that there are people who exploit the pain that communities are feeling and ignite violence. In Minneapolis, we have marched. We have protested. We have organized. And when we see people setting our buildings and our businesses ablaze, we know those are not people who are interested in protecting black lives. They might say they care about black lives, but they're not interested in protecting black lives, because, when you set a fire, you risk -- you risk the community that you are saying you are standing up for.

George asked her what she'd like to hear from the president now, noting that Omar has "faced threats inspired by President Trump in the past." She didn't shrink from the opportunity to answer this question. 

The mayor of Washington, D.C., just recently addressed the nation. And, in her remarks, she talks about how there was a kind of leadership that could have been displayed by Donald Trump. And that leadership has not been displayed. And now we -- she said, we look to one another for that leadership.

Many people in our communities are moving on and deciding that they themselves are going to show up as leaders. They are going to push for the kind of systematic change that we need. They are going to ask for people to work together to rebuild our communities. They are going to be vigilant and make sure that they are protecting one another.

This president has failed in really understanding the kind of pain and anguish many of his citizens are feeling. When you have a president who really is glorifying violence and was talking about the kind of vicious dogs and weapons that could be unleashed on citizens, it is quite appalling and disturbing.

We condemn other nations when their presidents make those kinds of statements when there is unrest in their countries, and we have to condemn our president at the highest sort of condemnation.

I don't agree with the Congresswoman on much, that I recall, but I do agree with her on this.

That's all we've got room for, for now. Keep washing your hands, wearing your mask, and social distancing as much as you can, even if you're protesting. 

And stay safe, especially if you're protesting. There are a lot of bad actors out there, including those who infiltrate in an effort to do who knows what kind of damage. I get the sense they don't care who gets hurt.

See you around the virtual campus. I anticipate a healthy Extra Credit post for you later.