Given the recent events since May 25 (George Floyd’s death), I am featuring this commentary from award-winning author, filmmaker, and thought-leader Carew Papritz!
While I don’t often feature commentaries of this type, there is a general consensus to talk about the events since George Floyd was killed and how we – as a society and a country- need to dramatically shift (or overhaul) our perspectives about race and ethnicity. We must evolve to truly become a nation, a society that supports and defends all people regardless of race, creed, or color! I am sharing this essay from Carew Papritz because he discusses the key elements that have caused the death of George Floyd (along with the killing of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Botham Jean, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, Sean Reed and too many other people to list) – each to become a flashpoint in illuminating this problem in the US.
– Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.
-Some of this commentary features bolding and italics; all done by me to emphasize points that I felt particularly relevant and important.
The Invisibility of Racism
& The Power of Not Normal as Normal
By Carew Papritz
You know the first time you see something that is truly not normal.
For me, it was personally witnessing a group of men break into a gun store and carry out rifles as if they were cordwood. And then, getting smashed aside the head for photographing them.
Or being engulfed by a mob that suddenly throws a garbage can through the window of a grocery store, surging in like a busted dam, and sweeping the shelves just to watch the merchandise fall.
Or seeing as someone blithely sets ablaze a storefront while people stand around mesmerized as if watching a beach-side bonfire at night.
Or the very not normal of observing a strip mall being calmly looted, as a young boy rides up to me and asks, “Can you watch my bike? ” Then saunters into a store, carries out his bounty, and then presents me with a stolen alarm clock as a gift, thanking me for “watching his wheels,” as he rides off down the street—which at that moment seemed very normal.
This was 1992. My first race riot. The LA riots.
Now I am watching my fifth race riot. Like the rest of you, I had to look up the other riots in between. Cincinnati, Ferguson, Baltimore, Charlotte, and now Minneapolis. Since 1992 that makes, including Los Angles, one riot every 4.6 years in the last 28 years. Of course, let us not forget the Watts riots in ’65, Newark and Detroit in ’67, Martin Luther King’s assignation in ’68, and Miami in 1980.
Do you know what is not normal? That nothing has changed. Nothing. First comes the anguish and outrage. Then the protests, the looting, the fires, and then the show of force—all the same. Like a horror version of the movie, Groundhog Day.
I hear people in my community say how unbelievable this is. They cannot believe how they watched George Floyd slowly killed before their eyes. They watch in disbelief the mass protests in their communities, around their country. They can’t believe the destruction and burning and looting and are filled with sadness, bewilderment, and heartache. And just like the LA riots—they ask who is in charge? No one. (You want to see how thin the veneer of civilization truly is?) And they cannot believe that all this pandemonium is in the midst of a pandemic.
Yet, what is unbelievable is that I’m seeing this again. That what is not normal is actually . . . normal.
Daniel Goldberg, who wrote the groundbreaking bestseller, “Hitler’s Willing Executioners,” explained how most Germans knew of the holocaust, not only a few hundred thousand as was previously thought. His conclusion was that anti-Semitism was normal to the point of invisibility. It was so much a part of everyday life that there were few overt signs of it, such as water fountains with separate signs for white people and black people. What was profound was the enormity of the normal.
Yet, at this very moment, we are living with another enormity of invisibility—of two universal viruses.
Some say we are at war with COVID-19. But what is the visceral damage of war? The bombing, the destruction, the loudness, and the killing. Yes, the virus is doing the killing but if you don’t see the bodies, you don’t feel the war. If you don’t see the destruction, you don’t feel the pain. If you don’t see it, it isn’t there.
Some say we are at war with racism. But if you don’t see the war, how can it be real? Yet, when the invisibility breaks down for a brief moment—when we actually see the full video ugliness of someone dying or being badly beaten in front of our eyes—then we protest and yell, stomp and march. We say angry words and utter profound phrases. We even loot, steal, and burn. Then it’s over. The power of invisibility takes charge once again. And then it’s back to our normal: out of sight—out of mind.
We just love not changing. And we are very good at it. Even now we will defy gravity, facts, common sense, and our health just to get back to normal. We love our normal, even if it’s not normal.
But a hundred thousand deaths are not normal. Seeing a man choked to death in front of our eyes is not normal.
We will overcome the invisibility of the first virus with an eventual vaccine. We will solve the problem with brains, and facts, and resolve. That’s what we do when we are faced with the enormity of such a problem—and that is normal.
But what vaccine is there to the invisibility of racism? Yes, we have to do the same—with brains, and facts and resolve. But we also need heart. The courage to help each other be stronger is at the core of our humanity. For we are only as strong as our weakest link.
Let us not let the invisible become our normal again—for that is truly not normal.
AUTHOR BIO: Carew Papritz
Carew Papritz is an educational thought-leader, literacy advocate, and author of the multi-award-winning book, The Legacy Letters. Through his YouTube videos (including the I Love to Read series) and events (like the annual literacy-driven charity drive The Great Book Balloon Launch), he spreads the love of reading and learning to people of all ages. Papritz has made a global impact by being an advocate for literacy and teaching future generations about the importance of legacy.
Papritz’s writing has been published in a number of media outlets including Huffpost, Inc., Reader’s Digest & First Time Parent Magazine.
To learn more about Carew Papritz, please visit his website: https://
You can follow Carew Papritz on these social channels:
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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