I want you to know what it looks like here after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. While not everyone in our coastal town between Savannah and Jacksonville is a racist, there are deep divides along racial and economic lines which are tough to cross. It is segregation and we are all a part of it. Not just us here, but us everywhere. If ever in history we knew of our total interconnectedness it is now, during a pandemic killing people across the globe. Your cars are likely delivered to our port, so you are part of this community. You have watched TV and movies filmed on our shores, the delivery trucks bringing you everything stop in our rest stop on I-95, and when you go through security at the airport, your TSA agent was likely trained here, so you too are part of our community. Therefore, you should know what this part of your community is experiencing.
It seems that from all perspectives, people are angry, hurt, sad, scared while also trying to do right as they see it. One of the local favorites, Southern Soul Bar-B-Que, announced adjusting their hours to encourage attendance at a vigil for Ahmaud Arbery. You’ve lost a customer. “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” a reply on their Facebook page stated. Alan Tucker, the lawyer who released the video of The Shooting wrote a post explaining, “my parents have lived in Satilla Shores [where Mr. Arbery was murdered] for the past 35 years. My dad was scared to go home. My mother is staying with my wife and I. My parents’ entire subdivision was under siege by a mob and everyone … was wondering if they were about to be … persecuted for the sins of others.”
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where federal agents of many stripes are trained, unofficially issued a letter to its employees, saying “There has been an increase … in the volume and frequency of social media postings calling for violence and armed protest. While most organized demonstrations have been and will likely continue to be both lawful and peaceful, employees are cautioned to avoid unorganized protests/demonstrations which can often quickly turn violent.”
Left, right and middle are rising up to defend and protect. That level of vigilance and tension is unsettling.
And yet, there is incredible grit and determination of people here to stay together while feeling pulled apart. We are not pixelated memes of the South — stupid hicks, inbred rednecks, lowly slave owners and victimized slaves. We are real and complicated people with deeply held beliefs. And we’re trying to make sense of the senselessness while not letting go of each other. Glynn County News, Views and Rants is chock full of discussion, debate and profanity about gun rights, racism, support for police, local corruption and so on as folks work this out. This month, I participated in a press conference with faith leaders from across the spectrum hosted by the NAACP where each person, from their perspective, shared what we all know and feel; this is wrong, this is painful and we must find a united way forward.
To look at Brunswick, Georgia, and to wonder what is wrong with the people here is to miss the point. It is no different here than anywhere else. It is just our turn in the spotlight.
So, what do we all do? This is the question everyone is asking. Thoughts and prayers, vigils and peaceful runs are not enough. Yet, they are all essential. Meanwhile, we’re all tired. We’re tired from a pandemic. We’re tired from political machinations. We’re tired from fighting for our families, fighting for justice, and fighting for our lives.
So we must stop fighting. All of us, whether you think the events here are wrong because a black man was murdered or wrong because you think white men are being blamed. Instead of fighting, let us fix broken systems and love people.
To fix the system that allowed seven weeks to pass before an investigation was started, keep tuning in to ensure a just process is carried out. Continue the pressure to root out the law enforcement and legal corruption here. If you want to fix a racist system, do so on any and all fronts. Environmental travesties hit black communities hardest. So, fix the insufficient funding for sewers and lack of housing ordinances which stop the building of luxury homes on the beaches just to be washed away. More black people are dying from COVID-19, so fix the reality that black people receive substandard medical care. Fix the system that lets black women die in childbirth two to six times more often than white women. Fix it so there is more money going to poorer and therefore predominantly black schools. And so on.
Transforming these systems is hard and takes steady, unrelenting work from everyone. Know that they are systems built on the fear and hatred of one person over another. We can pass all the hate crimes legislation, and we should. But the only way to end hate is through love. Because hating the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery does not bring him back and does not change a broken system. Instead, it brings more hate into a world weary with it. So, stop.
To dismantle the ugly, fetid rot which undergirds much of what we stand on, we need love. I do not mean kumbaya. I mean taking responsibility for this world and all the people in it. I mean brave, intentional, heart-breaking love for others, even and most especially for those who are not like you. I mean staring your own biases in the face and dismantling them. Meet strangers and get to know them. Seek out, support, and create opportunities to bring disparate communities together. Shop local and talk to the people you meet from a safe six feet away. Be brave, be heroic and love this broken world to heal it because we have tried everything else.
Now is the time for love.
Rachael Bregman is the Berman Family Rabbinate Rabbi at Temple Beth Tefilloh in Brunswick, Georgia.
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