Thieving opportunity

For days now, I've been trying to write something about the situation in Flint, Michigan. I couldn't decide what tack to take. A few days ago, while on an errand, I had the opportunity to see a room full of children with speech and developmental delays of various kinds. I thought to myself, "Ah ha! That's it!", but ultimately it wasn't because the words still wouldn't come. I still couldn't communicate what Flint means to me, and what Flint might mean to Flint.

Today, a friend shared this image with me on Facebook and I think finally, the heart and soul of the thing came together for me and the words came: Flint is about opportunity, and the theft thereof.

One of the things I'm fond of saying is that opportunity isn't everything, it's the only thing. It's the only thing that matters. Opportunity is the thing that makes a difference; the thing that makes all other things possible in our lives. Opportunity is what is afforded people who are seen as people. Absent  that visage, neither opportunity, nor dignity, nor safety are likely to be afforded. I see now that I was wrong, opportunity ain't everything water is. Who knew?

The little girls in the picture have been given opportunity: the opportunity to dance and see themselves as creators of art in their respective worlds. They can make beauty. They are worthy. The image on the left is the model, the image on the right is opportunity. What happens though, when public officials act in ways that make the image on the right impossible? What happens when public officials with an apparent lack of consideration for the health and well-being of the people they were elected to serve, rip up the floor of the dance studio; paint the walls with lead-based paint; use asbestos in the insulation and then tell you to run along and dance? And oh, by the way, here's the bill for your health-threatening studio......This is what has happened in Flint and it is beyond heartbreaking, it is criminal.

The water in Flint, Michigan has been tainted with lead since sometime after the spring of 2014 when the water source was switched to the Flint River. For many months since, the people of Flint - taxpaying citizens, non-taxpaying children, human beings - have been allowed to drink, bathe in and cook with this unpotable water. Why? To save the city some money.

There will be others who will write compellingly about the law and public health and whatnot, as for me, I only wonder what one must be, at one's core, to make a decision, discover that it is causing possibly irrevocable harm and then not act with all due haste and urgency to correct that error? What must one be? That anyone who calls himself a public servant would do this to the children of Flint, to children anywhere, to people anywhere, boggles my mind.

The errand I referred to earlier, afforded me the opportunity to be exposed to, not only children whose lives will be determined by how they handle their learning challenges, but also their parents. Those parents' lives have been and are being changed by the challenges their children face. The parents I saw, are the ones who are capable of dealing. What of the ones who are either still deep in denial or simply unable to deal? Not every parent is equipped to be a special needs parent. That thought forced me to confront the future for Flint. How many of the children with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood have parents who are ill-equipped to handle what now lies ahead? Who do we blame when the children start to flail and act out or simply fail out of the system?

All too often, the Republican mantra (relevant here because the governor of MI is a Republican) is 'personal responsibility' so the question must be asked: who's responsible here? Who's at fault? And more importantly, who's going to fix this? The damage is irrevocably done so now what? Who takes care of these children, some of whom may never be able to take care of themselves? Who fixes that? Who fixes the lost hopes and dreams of these children and their parents? Were they out of place to have had such hopes? Who pays for that? What reparations calculus covers all of that? Or will this be another one of those times when the 'reparations' request is stamped DENIED before we even have a full conversation about what has been stolen?

Governor Snyder of Michigan is on the case now though. He is fired up and ready to go, and though he is late as hell to the party, he's trying to get caught up. There's still no system in place to get water to those in need, but he's trying and we should give him points for effort I suppose. He called up the National Guard so yay Mitch! We won't trouble to speak of the fact that it was his decisions that put this slow moving catastrophe into play in the first place.

It's all well and good to put clean water back into the taps; to finally call up the Guardsmen/women to hand out bottled water, water filters and lead testing kits, but you cannot unchange the already changed trajectories of the affected families' lives. That bell cannot be unrung. 'Tis the story of bells unfortunately. That a politician or public officer would set this in motion....there really are no words.

Opportunity is NOT everything as it turns out, being seen as human and worthy of life is; not being dismissed as human detritus is. In Flint, something stinks and it ain't just political calculation and inhumanity, it is also the rotting flesh of a long-dead sense of basic human decency. Bury it please. Maybe on the third day it will rise again bringing with it new life and new hope.

The whole sordid tale of Flint is available here

Falling in love with Pyrrhus

Over the last several months, there have been tragic events in the Black community that have taken away our collective breath. What is worse is that there seems to be, first, no end in sight, and second, no interest in even the appearance of justice. It is this latter fact that informs the conclusion I've recently drawn: we must learn to love Pyrrhus.

For those unfamiliar with Pyrrhus or the expression Pyrrhic victory, I offer a brief explanation of this important figure in Greek mythology. He was the son of Achilles and a great warrior. Great though he was, the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" alludes to his battle with the Romans in 279 BC. Pyrrhus won the battle but did so at considerable cost. A Pyrrhic victory is therefore one that comes at a cost almost too great to bear. (The details of Pyrrhus' story are available here.) I find myself these days in the odd position of  being able to apply the term almost on a daily basis. Who would have thought that such a term would find regular use?

When Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail in 2015, and we saw the video of her (malicious?) arrest we thought for sure, there would be some kind of finding of culpability. Nope. Officer Encina however, it has recently been decided, is to be charged with perjury for misstatements about the arrest in his report. Apparently, his statements weren't borne out by the video evidence. Perjury? We'll take it. Score one for almost justice.

When Laquan McDonald was killed in Chicago in 2014, and without even seeing the video, the City Council voted to compensate Mr. McDonald's family, we thought for sure, there would be some kind of finding of culpability. There may yet be but we don't if know yet whether it will be justice of the almost (Pyrrhic) variety. True, a journalist had to sue using a Freedom Of Information Act request to have the dash-cam video released and it wasn't until 24 hours before that video became public, that anyone thought it fit and right to charge the good Officer Jason Van Dyke. Still, he was charged so score one for Lady Justice. Maybe this one will actually look and feel like full-fledged justice and not the almost justice that we're growing accustomed to accepting? We shall see what we see.

When Walter Scott was shot to death in North Charleston, SC in 2015, we knew there would be an indictment (for Heaven's sake the shooting was on video after all) and that justice would be done. So far we've got an indictment and the officer is in jail...but wait! Just this past Monday (January 4th, 2016), a judge released him from jail. Under the conditions of his bond, set at $500,000 on Monday, former Ofc. Slager must reside in South Carolina until his trial. The victim, Mr. Scott is still confined to his new 'quarters', while the former Ofc. Slager is now confined to his home, with his wife and his new baby. And didn't I also hear something about him requesting state funds to support his defense?

Meanwhile, Tamir Rice's grand jury determined in late December 2015, that 2 secs is more than enough time for a child to comply with instructions from police officers so no indictment there either and George Zimmerman has had something like six mug shots taken since Trayvon Martin's death. Pyrrhus ain't even have time for these cases. The Rice and Martin families didn't even have the benefit of a victory that came at a terrible cost. Zimms is free and so is Ofc. Timothy Loehman and we know where Tamir and Trayvon find themselves.

The list goes on and on. Mike Brown? Rekia Boyd? Eric Garner? In these cases, we weren't even able to score a victory at high cost. We got nothing: no justice; no satisfaction.

Quintonio LeGrier & Bettie Jones (Chicago), these two lost on 26 December 2015 in Chicago? We don't yet know who will come calling for these most recent victims; Pyrrhus, Lady Justice or no one at all. The odds don't really run in our favor. Sometimes we've found, the answer to the question, "Justice?" is straight up, "No!", not even a gentle, "Not today honey."

I'm learning to accept these infrequent, if Pyrrhic victories, uncomfortable though they be. God knows, sometimes that's the best we can get. Sure, all those names, and so many more, are still dead. Sure, there will be a new list of names in 2016. That's all true, but on the upside, sometimes families get compensated. Compensation, even without an admission of culpability, is a victory of sorts. And while there's still plenty unhappiness to go around (because the deceased is still deceased after all), we take what we can get because we understand that it's all we're going to get.  Sometimes someone goes on trial for reckless endangerment, or perjury, or some other related thing. And while it's not the Lady Justice at her best, it's better than nothing. Is it enough, no but again, we take what we can get. In many of these cases, no one will go to jail for murder but when the kinda sorta good outcomes come, at least we can console ourselves that we've got something. We know, and have all too often seen, that it could be so very much worse.
 
As for me, I'm going to love me some Pyrrhus. Until real justice for even us becomes available, I'm going to force myself to be comfortable with the almost justice that is often all that's available.

Loving Pyrrhus - the victor whose victories were anything but sweet - is likely to take a lot out of me, but I will struggle to be equal to the task.