Finding Ways to Unite During Turbulent, Destructive Times

Thursday, June 4 marked the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. It came as protests continued throughout the United States over the death of George Floyd in police custody and, behind that, the public repulsion over the systematic police abuse toward Black people. It is a system condoned at the top and has, over these years, trickled insidiously down to officers such as Derek Chauvin.

Just last week, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement was violently squashed after many, many months of “be water” protests and the rubber-stamp approval of a National Security Law. The police scenes in the U.S. and Hong Kong bear too many similarities to list here.

COVID-19 is continuing its global rampage, jumping from one hotspot to another. Even in Taiwan, where COVID-19 infections and deaths have been minimal, one sees shuttered stores everywhere; the economic devastation is certainly traumatic, many times over, in other places. 

Why am I regurgitating what everybody already presumably knows? I am worried that the world’s two superpowers are imploding right in front of our eyes, and those imploding forces could turn into outward explosions. On top of that, we have a global pandemic, a looming massive global recession, unprecedented worldwide unemployment, and hunger. Many democratic countries and institutions are increasingly wobbly and being chiseled away by autocrat forces in and outside their countries.

In many countries the autocrats are not placed there by the people, but this is the case in the U.S. We also have a chance to unite forces for a better leadership and a better, kinder, and wiser society. Diversity is one of America’s biggest strengths, and should continue to be so. And in a democracy, we must build coalitions, and that includes finding a way to reach the people on the other side of the political spectrum, and right now many on both sides are spoon fed news and commentary that inflame emotions and tell contrasting accounts of same events.

For some reason, I am getting random posts on my social media feeds from Breitbart and other right-wing outlets with videos highlighting the mayhem, looting, and chaos from the U.S. #BlackLivesMatter movement, and distorting the intent of the protest. I have also seen some left-leaning media voices produce videos that certainly compel support to the protest movement but sometimes create too much excitement rather than just reporting the incidents. The polarization came as George Floyd’s brother made a plea for protests to remain peaceful.

This is RASHOMON—a Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa about different witnesses’ renditions of a murder—in its finest and worst; people providing entirely contradictory, self-serving renditions of the same incident. I think this Rashomon Effect is going to have the most vexatious and deleterious effect on democracies, and especially in the United States. I am nowhere near an expert on policy, but I offer some possibilities that may salvage and hopefully improve the current stage.

1. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media companies must do more to flag and ban incendiary posts. Twitter has flagged, but not removed, tweets by Trump that violated its policies against misinformation or inciting violence, while Facebook has received criticism for letting violent or incorrect posts stay on the platform. Both should be bold in their efforts, not just in the U.S. but in the rest of the world, to avoid caustic statements virulently spiraling out of control.

2. Republican and conservative public figures must come out to not just condemn police brutality, but to use their platform to explain to their fan base why they should take another perspective in looking at the same situation—diluting the Rashomon Effect. Former President George W. Bush, former chief of staff Colin Powell, and former defense secretary James Mattis have released op-eds and letters in recent days criticizing the Trump administration’s handling of the protests. We need more conservative influencers to publicly state their case and reason with the reasonable. It might be hopeless to get currently serving politicians to do so, but certainly the chances increase with well-respected figures detached from the calculating Realpolitik and more concerned about public welfare over getting reelected.

3. It’s important to resist the urge to see politics in binary terms. Not all Chinese people support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, and some who support it are willing to change their minds. Likewise, not all Trump supporters consider themselves racists or white supremacists.

Just like we don’t want the peaceful protesters, whether in Hong Kong or in the U.S., to be inappropriately branded as looters and anarchists, we should also try our best to engage with those Trump supporters who are conflicted about the current situation. Look at the police officers and police chiefs who have also kneeled or walked with the protesters. This may only be a first step, but it is a significant one that shows there is room for engagement and collaboration in solving our problems.

Let’s not aggravate the situation by making it dichotomous, and allow room for people to feel comfortable to be acquainted with opposing views and change their minds. What we don’t want is for them to feel ridiculed and then repelling them further to dig into positions that they might abandon.

This is a tactic I learned and employed over the years as an LGBT advocate. Instead of engaging in heated arguments with extreme anti-gay elements, I focus on talking to people whose minds can be changed through reasonable discourse. I have found that, while it may not be immediately evident, there is often room to build bridges and connections.

4. There is no better time to utilize technology to connect with people of different persuasions and affiliations. All over the world, people are using video conferencing technologies and tools to connect with their colleagues, clients, and friends, especially since the COVID-19 quarantines. 

Why not use this to connect, individually and in groups, with people on the other side of the political spectrum?

We all have friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors who might share different political opinions than ours, but provided they are amenable to hearing different points of view, we all as individuals should reach out in a cordial manner and invite conversations, and elicit a type of communication that addresses grievances and concerns from both sides. We are all searching for answers. It is not talking to, but talking with, and, through this dialogue, creating consensus and better understanding of each other. (Again, I certainly employed this method over the years, and have used my parents, especially my mom, to talk with other parents of LGBTQ children to have them come around to accept their children.) If enough people are willing to do this, we can create a positive ripple effect and start building coalitions and allyship.

5. People in the #BlackLivesMatter movement should create chat rooms, either private or public, that allow people who want to discuss this to be invited into a safe and non-confrontational space to share their views, whatever they might be, with the purpose of, again, diluting the “Rashomon” effect and making people understand different points of view. I am certain that family members of the police force empathetic with the movement, but whose loved ones are out there ensuring public safety, have more in common with protesters than their differences. Can they talk and listen to each other, and be more emphatic? Yes, for sure. Can those family members then discuss with their loved one who is a police officer about ways to reform the system from within? Could those conversations then take place at police stations all over the country? Certainly! Do individual video conferences and dinner table conversations like this all over the country help move the needle forward? It certainly does. Could an Asian immigrant mother in Rosemead, California talk to a Black mother in Minneapolis, Minnesota about their hopes and worries for their children? I bet they would find more in common than they would differences. I absolutely in my heart believe this.

6. Public figures, media outlets and other individuals and institutions should see this as a great opportunity to build the nation, not divide it. Yes, support of #BlackLivesMatter is important and obviously a lot of emotions and passions are vested in this, but if we can find a way to deescalate the tension, and initiate conversations that are less top-down but more bilateral or multilateral, not vertical but horizontal, we can create networks that minimize race, religion, and gender problems, and instead creates synergies out of race, religion and gender diversity. If we are able to celebrate our differences as well as similarities, we are all the more compassionate to each other and thus less likely to eviscerate the diverse fabric of our society.

I say this because the U.S. is a democratic country that the world has looked up to for many decades as a sustainable model of democracy, federalism, rule of law, diversity and kind, magnanimous leadership. Yes, much of that has been eroded over the past years. In fact, many people across the world look at the U.S. with disdain, especially after embroiling itself in decades of war in the Middle East that have resulted in greater instability and chaos, and continuous fiascoes from the current administration’s unilateral, self-serving yet self-destructive actions. 

But we need the U.S. to stand, and stand collectively tall and proud. The world is irrefutably in a chaotic state, and the rise of autocracy, dictatorship and tyranny is palpable. So please mobilize, unite, and lift each other up, and not push each other down. It is a daunting task but we must try. Right now, I only see seeds of discontent growing into walls of distrust that will lead to a more disunited society. This will spell disaster in the short term (November elections) and long term for the American society. Let’s find out how we can maximize the momentum and awareness of this incredibly tragic death into a powerful movement that can heal and elevate the U.S. and its citizens into a better place. 

From destruction comes creation. So far, 2020 has been a year of abject destruction. 

It could also be a year of profound creation.

(Cover photo by Donovan Valdivia on Unsplash)