Watch out kid, or I’ll give you what for. Photo: PepperSprayingCop.Tumblr.com
What a quandary we find ourselves in.
As parents, we want to uplift and encourage our children, to have them believe with hope and admiration in the founding documents of our nation —the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
The last thing anyone wants is to foster in our kids an early cynicism that unmasks the betrayals in our system, its failures and glaring contradictions.
What is Occupy?
Yet kids today, with their access to various forms of media know about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Even if you personally restrict media, families are subjected to it in shopping centers, gyms, waiting rooms, restaurants, public spaces of all sorts. Those kids who deal with current events assignments may even know that the movement aims to get corporate money out of politics and restore regulations that keep banks from running amok with investor dollars.
So as people have taken to the streets with an openly non-violent protest approach, emphasizing that the movement follows the examples of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., it has been possible for parents to share the aims of the movement and the manner of engagement with their kids.
As the movement has spread, an explosion of stories across the blogosphere has inventoried the practical installations at the encampments. There are the lending libraries, wellness awnings, teach-in circles, nightly General Assemblies for consensus decision making, food tents, counseling opportunities and more. Each aspect illustrates what’s necessary for “freedom of assembly.” But moreover, it reveals the complexion of the demonstrations in clear form to anyone who sincerely wants to see the true ethos of the movement.
Long time Washington Post architecture and urban landscape critic Philip Kennicott even penned a glowing analysis of the “vibrant urbanism” present in Occupy DC.
Vibrant urbanists, meet our friends Billy Club and Pepper Spray
So with clear intentions, and believing in their Constitutional rights to participatory democracy, why are peaceful protestors getting skull-bashing blows from out of control cops?
Why are protestors being pepper sprayed in the face? Why are cloistered midnight raids happening, ordered by elected officials and resulting in brutal evictions, and the destruction of those lending libraries and wellness tents? Why are the necessary accessories to an assembly of human beings being systematically repressed by state powers and shift cops?
But most of all, how do we tell our kids that the nation we believe in, the rights we hold dear, will be openly trampled, battered, and brutally quashed with violent fury by those entrusted to uphold the right of law?
I wish I had the answer. I wish I could give the five-point plan that would be both honest and maintain a child’s belief in this country. I wish I could say, “we’re better than Pol Pot and Myanmar and Burma and Ghaddafi.”
But are we?
In degree, maybe. But in practice? And if the practice is just different by degree, how long until it’s not?
In practice we tout claims to equality, fairness, and justice. Yet we let white collar crime go not just with a pass, but we reward it with a bailout. And when the public cries foul, we club the people upside the head.
We laud the spirit and form of the Tahrir Square gathering, calling on then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to respond to the demands of the people. When our people gather for similar protests against corruption, we tar them with wholesale pejoratives, calling them “stinky hippies,” from the children to the students to the business persons to the grannies. Stinky hippies, all.
Now club ‘em, spray ‘em, jail ‘em.
Patience, Grasshopper
Sure, we could tell the story of the wrenching struggle for liberty and justice. How it takes time. How sometimes people get hurt, even when they practice non-violence themselves. But why are we having to tell this story in the United States of America in the first place?
This isn’t supposed to be us.
But there’s no denying it now. It is us.
How do we avoid cynicism in our kids when they’re told we’re the higher minded country and then they see seated college students aggressively pepper sprayed? When they see peaceful crowds fired upon? How do we prop up the dream when that’s what they’ll see?
Not in front of the kids? Hey, we can’t hide our nation’s fall anymore. So if any of you readers have thoughts on what we’re supposed to tell the wee ones, I’d love to hear them.
The best I have right now is the story The Emperor’s New Clothes. Only it’s the updated version. The Emperor’s New Clothes and His Bad Ass Pepper Spray, A Watch Out Punk, Your Ass is Grass Story from Kangaroo Congress Inc. And that’s not exactly the “avoiding cynicism” that I’m looking for.
Comments?
–Lindsay Curren, Transition Voice
Cross posted from Occupy Parenting
About Lindsay Curren
I think you nailed it with having no answers. No good answers any way. Most of us were brought up with these core ideals, that our Rights were untouchable, that the We the People and the Constitution meant something. Something worth fighting for. A real sense of Patriotism. This is what justified wars, rightly or wrongly. Since Vietnam some have questioned this and many other patriotic ”justices” and have chosen more important civil rights battles to fight and win through civil unrest. These in turn becoming inalienable rights themselves.
To me, there have always been two sides to Patriotism. Those who fight for what is just in the field and those who fight for what is right in the streets. If I wouldn’t somehow offend the noble cause of our good men and service women, I would rally for protestors as our next unsung hero – give them each a medal or something. But protest, since the Revolution and until now, has been seen as an action of unrest that flies in the face of the law or decency in some way. Too radical for the mainstream. But haven’t so many of our “Rights” been won by just these same rabble rousers? Must we own land (or slaves) to justify a rebellion? Isn’t a good cause for the common good where no one’s rights are infringed all that matters? Or do we need an influential populace that will make positive good on that promise in order to secure the common security for all? Is this where Transition comes in?
Not since Vietnam has America had a groundswell of cynicism valid enough to truly say “enough is enough.” But until now, it’s been a war or a civil rights protest. Now the balance has shifted so that the middle class are directly affected with no good solution, hero, or party agenda in the wings to fix it or to keep “us” separated from “them.” The middle class has historically been the affluent populace that needed defending. Now that their bank accounts and livelihoods are on the line as well, the balance (sheet) is shifting. The “We” is aligning along class lines against a common enemy. That is, until some middle-class voice says that it’s ok to go shopping again.
Historical stereotypes are now at odds or possibly converging as is evident from more service men and women crossing into the Occupy fold while more “officials” get away with pilfering America’s future or using excessive force against the people they have sworn to protect. Even a few of the richest among us are begging to be taxed while the trust fund babies are stepping outside of their comfort zones against a common injustice that is tearing our country apart. All while a mass of uneducated America still waves the flag of virtue against the “other” while their own savings (and liberties) dwindle behind their backs. No, the uniforms don’t tell the whole story any more. But those who rely on stereotypes will always trot out their finest when a sound bite is to be made.
So how do we discuss this with our kids? First I say, dispel with stereotypes, take nothing for granted. Appreciate the freedoms that you have. Use them when you can, but exercise a positive transition to find common sustainable goals with like-minded citizens when possible. Teach by practicing – even in your spare time while we nurse from the same capitalist tit that keeps this economy slogging along. (Hypocrisy is inevitable for some as we move towards something better.)
For older kids and teens, just opening their eyes to decline and the birth of an unjust city-state can be overwhelming! Open balanced discussions with positive solutions will hopefully put their idle minds in the right direction.
But a more active roll on the street and in the square may soon replace the misplaced aggression of our early years. No matter how much we direct them to concentrate on the here and now, the urge to rebel and fight may pull them into a new street gang mentality with a cause. While this may be a better use of their energy than underage drinking or petty mall theft, it too may be far more dangerous. It is now the very police officers themselves, the very shining examples of a just society played out in so many movies, who could threaten their livelihoods the most. (Please note: I don’t want to belittle our current crime rate as it is, but this new reality certainly pits a larger percentage of teenage youth against a possibly unjust police force that only, until now, have our multicolored brethren had to endure. This is not a new reality for many. But nor is this the case everywhere. I have witnessed extremely calm and collected police in the SE PA region at least where protestors are involved.) Again, we must teach right action and not right uniform.
Yes, it’s a harsh awakening in America. The disparate income statistics and our broken government bureaucracy has conjured the 1% with no apology or regulation. Until we see a more even hand dealt to the occupiers, I doubt even words will right the wrongs already committed. These are simply the harsh realities of our day.
A revolution with two fronts has begun in the streets AND in our local communities who seek positive engaged effort for the common good. Maybe both is needed. Peaceful dialog will take us all very far.
So I teach my kids what is appropriate for their ears. To the very young, life is your oyster, it is safe, enjoy – but it is on me to make sure I can deliver. When I cannot or when reality sinks in, there are lessons to be learned, Howard Zinn heroes to behold. For those old enough to make their own choice, I show them options: idealism tempered with historic realism and new consequences; an old means to a new end; a lifetime of making (hopefully) the right choices along this transition; and the value of work, time, and the labor of your fellow man.
With a dose of protective shelter, candid discussion, and hard work, we are teaching our kids the best way we can while still keeping everyone’s sanity intact. It is no longer possible to sugar coat our reality. Sometimes the good guy IS acting badly. And what we thought was a bad guy in a mask is actually a true hero.
Now, thankfully, Transition Voice has become a big part of my/our dialog. We sometimes appreciate the lack of good answers. It makes us think.
Peace.
Chris
A member of Transition Town Media, PA