I was born in Washington, D.C. My parents were pre-WWII emigrants from Eastern Europe. They divorced before I was born, and over a decade later my mother remarried another pre-WWII emigrant from another part of Eastern Europe, a former member of the OSS (the US military precursor to the CIA) who rose through ranks of the US Air Force Reserve to lieutenant colonel, and segued into a career as a senior US diplomat with the Department of State. By age 13, I was a US Foreign Service brat as my stepfather assumed a senior role in the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
I lived in Lebanon for over four years, loved the country, the people and the culture. I learned a little Arabic, a bit more French and began my love of travel, which, for business or pleasure, has taken me to every continent except Antarctica, and around the world on numerous occasions. I traveled to countries filled with repression, where autocrats and their cronies lived feudal lives at the expense of their people. I visited advanced Western democracies. And everything in between.
In Lebanon, a fairly open and multicultural society with deep religious factions that, at least when I lived there in the 1960s, had established a fairly peaceful modus vivendi with each other. Maronite Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims plus Druze, for the most part, with pockets of Armenians and even a small Jewish community. It was a modern democracy, highly literate, with strong ties to France, the nation that controlled Lebanon from the end of WWI until 1943. Lebanon also occupies a prize location on the Levant, that exceptionally gorgeous eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, connecting the Arab world, by sea, air and oil pipelines, to the West. Lebanon was friendly, prosperous and happy.
After I left, in the 1970s, sectarian fractures and political agendas of neighboring nations (mostly Syria) ripped the country apart. Civil war redefined the space. Those Lebanese who could afford to leave, did, usually to France, the UK, the United States or portions of Latin America (favoring Mexico and Colombia). Lebanon slowly redefined itself, and that minority of Shiite Muslims soon became the dominant political force, with a lot of help and more interference from a predatory Iran. Hezbollah rules Lebanon today. Syrian refugees now account for 20% of the population. It is an uncomfortable nation with deep financial issues.
But the Lebanese, even those who oppose what they felt was American imperialism, always had a quiet respect and affection for the American political system, one that combined ethnic diversity with a functioning democracy. They watched as racism reared its ugly head from time to time, but they were under the mistaken impression that we were successfully dealing with that ugly scar. Experts at that bastion of academic excellence, the American University of Beirut (AUB) (I took a freshman chemistry/physics course there while still in high school; my AP effort), have studied the US and our civil rights movement over the years.
When Donald Trump was elected, the scholars were appalled at the racism, intolerance, divisiveness and proclivity to see violence as a first-step solution that seems to define their perception of a new and menacing US philosophy… and the rising threat of the end of American democracy and the potential beginning of autocracy. The recent US protests, the anger and violence, seemed reminiscent of the Arab Spring, a political movement that began almost a decade ago with the best of intentions and then unraveled into anarchy, factionalism, and violence.
In the midst of a killer pandemic, many Americans were so outraged at racial injustice that they were willing to step out in droves, face searing tear gas and pepper spray (which exacerbated tearing, coughing and gagging, making a mockery of masks and safe distancing protocols) and maiming rubber bullets … and accept the risks of crowd exposure to the untamed COVID-19 virus. The world was watching it all, online and on the news. The Lebanese reaction was of particular interest to me.
“As images of America’s rage explode on screen, people across the Middle East — no strangers to discontent, thoughts of revolution or the heavy-handed response of security forces — have been struck by scenes more often associated with their region than with the world’s superpower.
“‘It’s the American intifada,’ said Rami Khouri, a journalism professor at the American University in Beirut who covered the U.S. civil rights movement and various Middle Eastern uprisings… ‘In the Arab world, there’s an inability to address the structural oppression of most citizens by an elite that has become very wealthy but is totally detached from their people. You’re seeing the same thing in the U.S. There’s an inability to address its structural racism.’
“The discord blooming across dozens of U.S. cities, which began after the death of George Floyd, an African American who died as a white Minneapolis police officer pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground with his knee, has exposed America’s tortured reckoning with questions of race and privilege… But it has also resonated here in the Middle East, with many seeing in the U.S. protests — not to mention authorities’ often aggressive response — echoes of the uprisings that exploded in the region over the last decade.
“Lebanese activist Sarah Aoun, who shuttles between Beirut and Brooklyn, N.Y., for her human rights work at the Open Technology Fund and has taken part in protests in both cities, is struck by the similarity of the footage out of Minneapolis to what she and her friends have experienced in Lebanon, one of several Arab countries facing spasms of anti-government demonstrations… ‘We’re dealing with systemic inequalities in both places and continued oppression of both peoples,’ Aoun said.” Nabih Bulos writing for the June 6th Los Angeles Times.
I am gratified to see white, black, red, yellow and brown protesters unite against systematic and pervasive racism in our legal and economic system. But decades of legal fixes, protests and serial outrage at a sea of never-ending blue on black and brown killings have not produced solutions. Inner city poverty and violence are epidemic. Inequality rages.
I watch as Donald Trump, his most senior advisors (people like unabashed mega-racist, policy advisor Stephen Miller) and supporters like Rush Limbaugh simply deny one of the most obvious failure of American governance: “I don’t buy into the notion of white privilege,” said Rush Limbaugh at an interview on June 1st, “That is a liberal political construct right along the lines of political correctness. It’s designed to intimidate and get people to shut up and admit they are guilty for doing things they haven’t done.”
In his press briefing on June 5th, Donald Trump told us: “We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully George [Floyd] is looking down right now and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’ This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This a great, great day in terms of equality.” The presentation then devolved into another spate of Trump self-aggrandizement, the slight improvement in employment numbers and boasting about the coronavirus relief packages he has signed into law. The immediate outpouring from political and community leaders to this insensitive messaging morphed into a tsunami of outrage. Racism has hardly dissipated. It is just exposed, giving Americans one more (one last?) opportunity to take down a racist administration and build an America based on true equality. Trump has made a mockery of any genuine effort to tear down systemic racism.
I have also listened to members of the African American community angrily cry that non-blacks cannot speak for the anger and feelings of black Americans, that the cause belongs solely to the African Community as expressed in the Black Lives Matter movement. But where does change come from without white support? “As of July 2016, White Americans are the racial majority. African Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising an estimated 12.7% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans are the largest ethnic minority, comprising an estimated 17.8% of the population.” Wikipedia. Indigenous Americans number under 1%.
No, this is an American problem, and Americans, united and determined, are the only force that can solve the dilemma. Maybe a lot of older folks are set in their racist assumptions, but the oceans of younger protestors give me hope… that maybe… this time we might actually change.
I lived in Lebanon for over four years, loved the country, the people and the culture. I learned a little Arabic, a bit more French and began my love of travel, which, for business or pleasure, has taken me to every continent except Antarctica, and around the world on numerous occasions. I traveled to countries filled with repression, where autocrats and their cronies lived feudal lives at the expense of their people. I visited advanced Western democracies. And everything in between.
In Lebanon, a fairly open and multicultural society with deep religious factions that, at least when I lived there in the 1960s, had established a fairly peaceful modus vivendi with each other. Maronite Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims plus Druze, for the most part, with pockets of Armenians and even a small Jewish community. It was a modern democracy, highly literate, with strong ties to France, the nation that controlled Lebanon from the end of WWI until 1943. Lebanon also occupies a prize location on the Levant, that exceptionally gorgeous eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, connecting the Arab world, by sea, air and oil pipelines, to the West. Lebanon was friendly, prosperous and happy.
After I left, in the 1970s, sectarian fractures and political agendas of neighboring nations (mostly Syria) ripped the country apart. Civil war redefined the space. Those Lebanese who could afford to leave, did, usually to France, the UK, the United States or portions of Latin America (favoring Mexico and Colombia). Lebanon slowly redefined itself, and that minority of Shiite Muslims soon became the dominant political force, with a lot of help and more interference from a predatory Iran. Hezbollah rules Lebanon today. Syrian refugees now account for 20% of the population. It is an uncomfortable nation with deep financial issues.
But the Lebanese, even those who oppose what they felt was American imperialism, always had a quiet respect and affection for the American political system, one that combined ethnic diversity with a functioning democracy. They watched as racism reared its ugly head from time to time, but they were under the mistaken impression that we were successfully dealing with that ugly scar. Experts at that bastion of academic excellence, the American University of Beirut (AUB) (I took a freshman chemistry/physics course there while still in high school; my AP effort), have studied the US and our civil rights movement over the years.
When Donald Trump was elected, the scholars were appalled at the racism, intolerance, divisiveness and proclivity to see violence as a first-step solution that seems to define their perception of a new and menacing US philosophy… and the rising threat of the end of American democracy and the potential beginning of autocracy. The recent US protests, the anger and violence, seemed reminiscent of the Arab Spring, a political movement that began almost a decade ago with the best of intentions and then unraveled into anarchy, factionalism, and violence.
In the midst of a killer pandemic, many Americans were so outraged at racial injustice that they were willing to step out in droves, face searing tear gas and pepper spray (which exacerbated tearing, coughing and gagging, making a mockery of masks and safe distancing protocols) and maiming rubber bullets … and accept the risks of crowd exposure to the untamed COVID-19 virus. The world was watching it all, online and on the news. The Lebanese reaction was of particular interest to me.
“As images of America’s rage explode on screen, people across the Middle East — no strangers to discontent, thoughts of revolution or the heavy-handed response of security forces — have been struck by scenes more often associated with their region than with the world’s superpower.
“‘It’s the American intifada,’ said Rami Khouri, a journalism professor at the American University in Beirut who covered the U.S. civil rights movement and various Middle Eastern uprisings… ‘In the Arab world, there’s an inability to address the structural oppression of most citizens by an elite that has become very wealthy but is totally detached from their people. You’re seeing the same thing in the U.S. There’s an inability to address its structural racism.’
“The discord blooming across dozens of U.S. cities, which began after the death of George Floyd, an African American who died as a white Minneapolis police officer pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground with his knee, has exposed America’s tortured reckoning with questions of race and privilege… But it has also resonated here in the Middle East, with many seeing in the U.S. protests — not to mention authorities’ often aggressive response — echoes of the uprisings that exploded in the region over the last decade.
“Lebanese activist Sarah Aoun, who shuttles between Beirut and Brooklyn, N.Y., for her human rights work at the Open Technology Fund and has taken part in protests in both cities, is struck by the similarity of the footage out of Minneapolis to what she and her friends have experienced in Lebanon, one of several Arab countries facing spasms of anti-government demonstrations… ‘We’re dealing with systemic inequalities in both places and continued oppression of both peoples,’ Aoun said.” Nabih Bulos writing for the June 6th Los Angeles Times.
I am gratified to see white, black, red, yellow and brown protesters unite against systematic and pervasive racism in our legal and economic system. But decades of legal fixes, protests and serial outrage at a sea of never-ending blue on black and brown killings have not produced solutions. Inner city poverty and violence are epidemic. Inequality rages.
I watch as Donald Trump, his most senior advisors (people like unabashed mega-racist, policy advisor Stephen Miller) and supporters like Rush Limbaugh simply deny one of the most obvious failure of American governance: “I don’t buy into the notion of white privilege,” said Rush Limbaugh at an interview on June 1st, “That is a liberal political construct right along the lines of political correctness. It’s designed to intimidate and get people to shut up and admit they are guilty for doing things they haven’t done.”
In his press briefing on June 5th, Donald Trump told us: “We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully George [Floyd] is looking down right now and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’ This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This a great, great day in terms of equality.” The presentation then devolved into another spate of Trump self-aggrandizement, the slight improvement in employment numbers and boasting about the coronavirus relief packages he has signed into law. The immediate outpouring from political and community leaders to this insensitive messaging morphed into a tsunami of outrage. Racism has hardly dissipated. It is just exposed, giving Americans one more (one last?) opportunity to take down a racist administration and build an America based on true equality. Trump has made a mockery of any genuine effort to tear down systemic racism.
I have also listened to members of the African American community angrily cry that non-blacks cannot speak for the anger and feelings of black Americans, that the cause belongs solely to the African Community as expressed in the Black Lives Matter movement. But where does change come from without white support? “As of July 2016, White Americans are the racial majority. African Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising an estimated 12.7% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans are the largest ethnic minority, comprising an estimated 17.8% of the population.” Wikipedia. Indigenous Americans number under 1%.
No, this is an American problem, and Americans, united and determined, are the only force that can solve the dilemma. Maybe a lot of older folks are set in their racist assumptions, but the oceans of younger protestors give me hope… that maybe… this time we might actually change.
I’m
Peter Dekom, and while looters and arsonists have taken too large a share of
the news coverage, it is truly time to embrace the greater underlying message
for equality of human beings, all struggling for equal access to respect,
dignity and opportunity, starting with the powerful legal and cultural bias
imposed on Americans of color.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment