It’s hard to pinpoint where it started. Maybe it was when a kid coming home with Skittles and an Arizona Ice Tea turned into a deadly altercation with a neighborhood watchman. Possibly it was when a taxi driver was beaten by four officers and asked, “Can’t we all just get along”. Or, was it when two Mississippians were acquitted of brutally murdering a teenage boy for “flirting” with a White woman and his open casket funeral spurred a civil rights movement?
Or even now, in 2016 where a day after a video showed white officers pinning down and shooting a black man outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, federal authorities are investigating the case.
Now, Alton Sterling, 37, a father, a husband, a brother, our brother...is dead.
The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is leading an investigation into what happened. And the president of the NAACP's local branch is calling for the city's police chief and mayor to resign, but what is OUR response as a community?
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The historical record of the contentious relationship between the American justice system and African American men is well documented in its breadth and complexity, but the emotional response it evokes today has received less thoughtful exploration despite the emotional intensity that constantly has been on display during news coverage these past two years.
The strongest emotional responses from both the African American community and the police community have often highlighted the violence of the “other side,” and while valid, have often missed the mark on one of the most important ingredients for implementing policies that sustain peace: empathy.
Empathy reflects the ability to share the feelings of others and see the world from their perspective. Violence begets violence, a phrase frequently used by Dr. King, ......illustrated his understanding that the emotional aftermath of this cycle naturally leads to the dehumanization of others and eventually the bankruptcy of empathy. Once the “other side” is no longer human, it becomes easy to choose any path that meets personal needs and disregards the needs of others.
The emotional profile of many who have represented the face of frustrated citizens or exasperated police in the media have lacked this potent catalyst for bringing multiple parties to the table to support sustained strategies for meeting the valid concerns of citizens and police.
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This conversation isn’t new. In 1994, the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act was passed by Congress to initiate community policing practices that embed police in communities as partners for peace. The problem with policy alone is it fails to reshape the beliefs and values that inform behavior.
Regardless of the laws in place, when we are in crisis (such as feeling our lives are threatened) we automatically rely on the beliefs that have helped us survive. This is why strategies that help police understand the apprehension many in the Black community have about law enforcement while also imploring citizens to fully appreciate the inherent risks police take to protect our communities have the potential to make the laws we have passed and will pass have roots in an emotional core that goes beyond simply following the rules.
Inserting empathy into our conversation is the tool that transforms rules into values that are lived instead of simply followed. Dr. King summed this up best when he declared, “hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that”.
is a clinical psychologist who trains health professionals and teens on psychological trauma and suicide prevention. He is the founder of iOpening Enterprises, a multimedia company specializing in developing entertaining and educational stories for teens, young adults, and the adults who work with them. Follow Dr. Isaiah Pickens @PickensPoints.
