Sometimes I find choosing the appropriate metaphor for what is happening in the United State a challenge. Today is NOT one of the occasions. Why? Because two events in the past 48 hours–Hurricane Laura and violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the shooting of Jacob Blake–share a common teaching moment. Both remind us any attempt to isolate the cause and effect of an event is an oversimplification of the situation.
Understanding this helps us separate the symptoms from the root cause that trigger the chronology from one state of being to the next. When examining this sequence of activity it is important to understand it is not “this” caused “that.” It is more like “this” caused “this” that eventually leads to “this.” My worst fear is there is no “that.” There is no terminal episode. And that fear played out two days ago in Kenosha.
Let’s begin with Laura. This morning the coastal area of Louisiana woke up to massive destruction which one might say was the direct result of a category 4 hurricane. But this storm was different from others which have ravaged the Gulf coast in the past. Historically, hurricanes have gathered strength from the time they form off the African coast, their power derived from the long journey across the warm waters of the southern Atlantic. In contrast, Laura formed just east of the Virgin Island and remained a tropical storm until it entered the Gulf of Mexico. Then, it grew from a rain event into a category 4 hurricane in less than two days, unprecedented in the annals of National Weather Service records.
This was no accident. The speed at which the storm intensified was due to the record high water temperatures in the Gulf. Again, no accident. Take one more step backwards and we see the deviation in water temperature is due to a failure to address the effects of climate change. Due to a belief by some that economic growth and environmental protection are incompatible. Cause, cause, cause, cause, effect. But does it really end there? If Laura-like storms become the rule rather than the exception, future economic, social and national security consequences are yet to come.
When I began this post, I was not quite sure which development was the metaphor which explains the other. But the chain of events in Kenosha make it a better illustration of the “cause, cause, effect syndrome.” Rather than a timeline, perhaps a road map covering 244 years of American history is the better teaching tool.
Our trip begins in Philadelphia in 1789 with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 3 is a good starting point.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.
Talk about political correctness. The word “slave” does not appear in the document. Instead, slaves are referred to as “all other People.” And are undervalued at three-fifths of “free Persons.” This morning, Eddie Glaude, Jr., professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, labeled this provision the “code of slavery” which, even though addressed in the Thirteenth Amendment, remains the underpinning of structural racism in American and especially among some police officers. The life of these “other Persons” still is not worth the same as we “free Persons.”
The second leg of our journey is a long one, lasting 155 years, during which we keep trying to scale the mountain of systemic bias in hopes of seeing the promise land on the other side. There have been temporary glimpses of that vision but it is never fully realized. And like Moses, far too many of those who lead us on this journey will not, themselves, enjoy the rewards of their efforts.
Finally, at warp speed, we arrive in Kenosha, Wisconsin where Jacob Blake, a 29 year-old black father of three, is immobilized by a policeman who grabs his shirt and then shoots him seven times in the back. This is the mid-point in the cause, cause, effect cycle. The root cause is the “three-fifths compromise.” Its lasting effect precipitates Jim Crow as too many Americans refuse to accept the Thirteenth Amendment. And the continuing debate about the value of a black life opens the door to police brutality when dealing with people of color.
But, as mentioned above, it is the midpoint, not the end. Our journey from 1789 to the present continues. Anger over the shooting of Jacob Blake leads to protests in the streets of Kenosha. And sadly, despite pleas by Blake’s parents not to dishonor their son through acts of violence and destruction, that anger precipitates disorder and lawlessness. Which causes a 17 year-old with a semi-automatic weapon to drive to Kenosha from his home in Grayslake, Illinois because, as he tells the right-wing website The Daily Caller founded by Tucker Carlson, the night before he kills two protesters and critically injures another, “People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business.” More cause, cause, effect.
If there is anyone who honestly believes this is where the story ends, I have a portfolio of penny stocks I am willing to sell you. The only question is whether this resort to vigilantism, which appears to have been ignored, even supported, by Kenosha police, causes more violence as once peaceful protesters now feel compelled to protect themselves from these self-appointed guardians of the citizenry. Or will it be a long overdue wake-up call to more Americans who now understand a black man, who at worse, for the crime of having a knife in his vehicle, is gunned down by police while a white teenager who just murdered two people is allowed to spend the night in his own bed.
The destination is still uncertain. Tonight, we may get the answer to that question.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP