To Cleanse a Sin

Disclaimer: I’m an Indian-origin American-Citizen Couch Potato, and therefore I understand that my opinions may be out of whack. This is my two cents on what I see unfolding across the United States.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” John F. Kennedy uttered these words upwards of six decades ago, in a time where African Americans and other disadvantaged minorities proclaimed they had had enough with a system openly intended to keep them down. Six decades ago. Three of my lifetimes ago.

Systematic Institutional Racism needs no introduction by now, especially not from someone like me. I do hope most of us have been trying to understand just how cruel and dehumanizing it is to live under an invisible yoke, as much as is possible for us who have blindly profited from the exploitation of the disadvantaged. Watching the protests unfold across the United States from India I can do nothing more than educate myself and pin my hopes on the bravery of those protesting for the simple right to equality.

But as I watch the news media (right and left) cover the situation, I’m struck by how easily they disavow rioting and violence among pro-BLM protesters. Words like “unequivocally condemn” and “absolutely disgraceful” are thrown around like statements of fact. It’s counterproductive, they say, marring the largely peaceful protests occurring across the world, and the breakdown of law and order must be prevented.

Counterproductive? When armed mobs stormed government buildings in defiance of federal COVID-19 quarantine, it seemed to help their case if nothing else.

Marring peaceful protests? The stereotype of African American rioters is already peddled so widely by the mainstream media that there is almost nothing a peaceful protester can do to avoid being branded a public menace.

The breakdown of law and order? To that I say, for god’s sake how far can an unjust system of justice remain unchallenged?

Six decades after the Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s words have proven prophetic. Peace has been responded to with violence. Wearing a hoodie or running away means your death is an acceptable casualty to society. It is no longer acceptable for the oppressed to ask for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They must beg for the right to breathe.

It is easy for me to sit here, safe in a privileged lifestyle, and say these things. I am well aware of that fact. Regardless, you will find no condemnation of any rioting or violent acts of pro-blm protesters here. There comes a point where turning the other cheek leads to being shot with rubber bullets and tear gas and flashbangs and pepper spray, and at that point nobody can blame you for fighting back.

The United States was founded with a grand dream and an original sin, the sin of slavery and oppression. If the institutions that enforce this sin today cannot openly and rapidly change course to absolve themselves of it, there will come a time when they will reap what they have sown.

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