Yes, it can. Whatever we’re talking about it can get worse . . . a LOT worse.
We will start with racial tensions, over-reacting police, and the 24 hour news coverage. Right in Roanoke we had an identical incident last December. The only thing that distinguishes it from the other police shootings is that there was no significant national coverage.
The Roanoke County police department was resistant to releasing any video that was taken which, quite naturally, makes everyone suspicious. There should be a national standard for how these affairs are handled.
In Charlotte, they did release the video but only after the pictures taken by witnesses were made public. As long as there is the perception of less than full disclosure it will continue to be a forerunner of violence, always the worst choice.
One of the few positives to come out of these “offender”/police encounters is the growing awareness that racial tensions are still a major part of American subculture and until there is universal acceptance of that, we stand little chance of easing the tensions, let alone fulfilling “. . . with liberty and justice for all.”
We have always talked a good game even from the earliest days of our founding, but reality is vastly different. Someone needs to craft a plan as to how that can be accomplished, or the downward spiral will end in a pool of violence.
In the last weeks of the presidential campaign there is an opportunity, a golden opportunity, for the candidates to show some leadership in reforming racial bias. Have we heard anything about that from either major party candidate?
No, we haven’t. In fact, the opposite has been true. Both sides have been insulting to the other, neither of them willing or able to say this is beyond politics but rather parroting whatever will appeal to their base. In talking with our friends in Europe they are astounded at our behavior, not that they have any room to brag about their shenanigans.
The first of the debates will air Monday, the 26th. In order to ensure they get the maximum coverage, CNN will have five hours of pre-debate coverage. Only the Super Bowl has more attendant hype. Whether the two candidates can rise above vitriol is a real question. Then what about the audience? I hope they will be required to remain silent but given their past performances there is no guarantee that a riot can be averted.
Too bad Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate, could not muster up a 15% following to be included; Gary could have provided a brief respite for the real opponents and some comic relief. After all, he did say on 60 Minutes that he thought Aleppo was an acronym for a government agency. If he gave some of his chewable marijuana products to Hillary and Donald, it might turn into quite a mellow event.
And continuing to get worse is the whole Syrian tragedy. Looking at the total destruction of Aleppo, to say nothing of the whole nation, it puts our dis-ease in a darker light. In no way does that minimize the seriousness of our problems, but it should bring into sharper focus our need to make the necessary corrections.
One can hope that cool heads will prevail in all these areas and justice will rain down, as MLK, the talisman of tolerance, said so many years ago. If not, then things will continue the trip toward entropy.
Finally, the impossible can happen: VPI and UVa both looked like a football team, at least long enough to win on the same weekend.
Hayden Hollingsworth
