UnitedHealth CEO shot

This situation and the spectrum of reactions to it are similar, for me, to when a riot happens. When there is a riot, inevitably, people fall in two positions, "for" the riot or "against" the riot. Now, I know that is a really simple reduction of what can be a nuanced topic, but ultimately, from my perspective, those are the sides with varying degrees on both.

For the riot normally can be summed up in 3 beliefs:

"I hate to see the violence but I understand why it is happening."
"I understand the violence and I'm not mad about it."
"Burn that mother down, this is what it has come to."

Against the riot:

"I understand why it is happening, but violence isn't helping."
"I hear their pain but the violence makes it worse and doesn't solve anything."
"They are criminals and should be dealt with as such."

It's my personal belief that where you fall in reacting to these situations, riots or this murder, is probably influenced by the amount of privilege you hold and your proximity to that privilege and the amount of privilege that exists in your bubble. For me, I have mostly found myself falling on the "for the riot" spectrum and that is admittedly greatly influenced by my experience of being a black American. And honestly, that experience has radicalized to me to hold all 3 of those beliefs at one time or another.

I won't drop the MLK quote about riots because that feels stale but I've always seen riots as a symptom to a larger, much worse disease. And, personally, I can never allow my feelings towards the symptom outpace my feelings towards the disease. I remember when my mom went through her first bout of breast cancer and all of the doctors encouraged us, as the family, to keep her spirits up. That her mental disposition was a key factor in recovery. Yet, there were days where she was really depressed and didn't get out of bed. And my dad, early on, was really hard on her. "You have to get out of bed and move around. Fight this thing. Don't give up." And I had to have a hard conversation with him and remind him that her being depressed wasn't the enemy, the cancer and the chemo recovery was. Being depressed was just a symptom of that and we needed to have empathy and compassion for that. Railing on her depression would only further push her there.

As a black man, I don't want anarchy in our streets. Anarchy will disproportionately affect marginalized communities more heavily. My life holds less value in our society so unchecked violence puts me more at risk. Yet, for me, this murder feels more like the symptom than the disease. And as distasteful as someone being gunned down in the back is to me, as wrong as it is, I can't let my feelings towards that outpace my feelings towards a more disgusting and distasteful reality. People are being killed, in far greater numbers, by this healthcare system for profit. We tiptoe around that or talk about it in very tepid terms (negligent, unethical) but lives are being ruined by denials of something that, in my opinion, is a right (healthcare).

So, in those terms I can't condemn the "burn the mother down" people, or in this case, the ones championing this murder. My proximity to the marginalization gives me insight to the depth of the depravity that they are reacting to and in this moment I feel they deserve more of my empathy, understanding and compassion than my judgement. Because I will always be "for the riot."

My thoughts.