I thought I would post this. It was the most helpful article to help me understand what is needed that I have read. Period.
https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020...-good-life?utm_source=ksl&utm_medium=referrer
I walk in a very different circle than most with very little conflict. There is a business book called "the speed of trust." I trust nearly everyone around me and they trust me, so we only worry about coming together to accomplish what serves both parties. Both parties save a lot of time and money in accomplishing our goals because of this.
Admittedly I am not first party to a lot of what is going on in the world right now. I don't know anybody first hand with covid and I can label one family I know racist. (I get that many would say that's impossible, but it's my opinion. I have no evidence otherwise.) I have always had black neighbors. I like to know my neighbors and we have always enjoyed each others company and supported one another. 3 years ago when Kap was in the media I often wanted to ask my Neighbor Charly about his thoughts and feelings. I really enjoy and frankly yearn to understand those around me. I never did, because I couldn't find a way to phrase it that I felt would be comfortable for him. Jazzfanz was the only place in my circle I could get any frame of reference there, and I have read lots of the material here over the years regarding race.
With all the noise, I have had a really hard time identifying the actual objectives. I read the BLM Utah and BLM websites and they had some objectives to get out the vote. Beyond that there are some vague categories such as defund police, police brutality, economic injustice, etc. Some of those could be really positive or they could be lead to the unhealthy and unproductive societies of the past world wars imo. I thought the article had some good clarity in discussing some of the problems and solutions:
- Promoting Diversity. He was saying that it was very positive to have different races on campus at BYU because it helped people to understand. I thought this was great. I have many great friendships come of associating with those with different backgrounds and cultures than my own.
- Police brutality. He mentioned he wasn't surprised, but that his church also has a great relationship with the police. I have to imagine police are like a wild animal backed into a corner right now and truly some are even quitting. I think it's toxic to stereotype any group this way and the stress it puts on people that are good exacerbates the situation. There are some things in police reform that could be quite helpful. I think mostly this has been helpful to know that some people live in fear of the police which needs to be resolved. In my cirlce this topic had never come up. I feel there are few details as far as solutions on this front, unless defund the police is meant literally to get rid of policing. I assume not as it would be a tall order to convince this country to support anarchy. I have heard the concept of redirecting funds, but what are the details, to what extent?
- He had a great experience at BYU. I am not a fan or alum. I always thought the culture there was so weird in college. He mentions "the biggest incident" so he must have had multiple, but the idea that he enjoyed it there was interesting to me and doesn't fit the stereotype many people project there. Always nice to hear a spade called a spade.
- Low income schools. I thought this was very helpful. It's an obvious one, but I don't hear it talked about much. We have lots of laws that try to give people that might be disadvantaged a leg up. I think it goes back to getting different folks together. There are some interesting development ideas that integrate low and high income housing. It's an interesting concept. This is a pretty challenging issue logistically, furthermore how do you justly choose what to do with who.
- He gave a great explanation of being anti-racist and also mentioned his congregation cares about the things that harm their neighbor. When you ask somebody to have your back it's nice to at least give lip service you will have theirs. No fault to those that don't, but I think it gave this guy a lot of credence in my mind as I considered his thoughts.
- He mentioned the disadvantage in the legal system for poor people. This is real and wrong. KSL had an article that it is being thought about today.
- His explanation of Kaep. He is a Pastor and sells what he views as positive ideas for a living, but it's a good study on how to unite those who may not understand you to your cause. It's the first time I began to grasp what the concept was there, he was able to explain the concept was not to take away from the symbol of the flag representing freedom and liberty, but to say it didn't necessarily for work black people the way it should. I can't even restate here with the Eloquence of Mr. Gray.
I would love to see some discussion in specific policies or actions individuals can make in their daily interactions that could be supported that would have wide support. I'll start with one:
It's terribly hard to fire bad government employees (including police). Tenure can often dictate that a talented, highly productive new employee is fired, while a problem employee with tenure is retained. Even if you fire one, that same person may have preference to be hired and tie the hands of the hiring agency due to current rules over somebody who is a better fit. This teaches our bad apples to game the system rather than change their ways. I have personally watched 2 terrible example of this. I'm not sure what the support level for this is, but it seems like a no-brainer to me.
I wasn't going to mention this, but hopefully this can be helpful to do some uniting. There are 2 phrases with really difficult connotations for a large group of people right now. Of course this is about helping out Black lives, but imagine if the white people who were most difficult to convince all of the sudden were way more approachable and joined in supporting the change. The momentum would be quite powerful. I think that's more attainable than most believe.
- White privilege: What many white people hear is you don't work hard and your life is easy. I believe what is trying to be said is that an average Black person would have a harder time achieving success than an average white person. The oversimplification has made it a turn off and insult to many because of what they perceive is being said. Gray did a masterful job avoiding the negative connotation catch-phrase and concisely explained parts of the concept such as disadvantaged schools. All of the sudden there is no insult and the vast majority of the audience can't help but agree. He includes white people in his cause by going about it this way. He defaults them to his side rather than saying they need to change sides somehow.
- BLM. While I don't think this one is reasonable to be changed. To the ignorant it has a selfish connotation that the org only cares about blacks. I do feel its possible to further the black lives matter too explanation. Gray masterfully addressed this by saying "One of the things I teach our congregation at Transformation Church is this, to love my neighbor as myself means that I care about things that hurt my neighbor that may not hurt me." It's a pretty broadly accepted concept. I care about you and what hurts you. I need your help with this thing that is hurting me. I think BLMUtah does a decent job explaining this. It probably just needs a ton of repetition to overcome the connotation. Gray chose a pretty genius route to avoid the buzz word all together, but not everybody can get away with that.