“True peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice.”
Jane Addams
Beyond the Quote (151/365)
There is a time for words and there is a time for action. As a Martial Arts Instructor, I teach a very clear protocol to my students when it comes to self-defense situations: avoid potentially dangerous situations; be calm and breathe; communicate with confidence; and defend yourself if necessary. And if you find yourself in a situation of self-defense, use the minimum force necessary to deal with the aggressor in such a way that allows you to handle the situation properly and escape safely. I think these personal safety themes can help clear up what’s happening in response to the George Floyd police brutality case on a larger scale.
From a black community perspective, the first three steps I listed above—avoid, be calm, communicate with confidence—have been ever present in response to the numerous police brutality cases that have emerged in our recent history. There have been countless peaceful protests and open dialog opportunities revolving around the broken and unfair system that’s supposed to be providing equal treatment and justice for all. And yet, again and again, in the most heart-breaking and gut-wrenching of ways, more and more individuals—black individuals in particular—continue to turn up as victims as a result of police brutality. And what makes it worse is that their family, friends, and communities are left without a sense of justice or accountability in response.
If I had a student come to me and tell me that somebody was bullying them, the first thing I would do is make sure that they were doing everything they could on their part. I would make sure they were avoiding the bully to the best of their ability. Second, I would make sure they were keeping calm and clear-headed when around this person so as to not escalate the situation or compromise their thinking. Third, I would remind them of the importance of confident communication and ensure that they are telling the aggressor loudly and clearly what they want: for them to STOP, to BACK OFF, to LEAVE THEM ALONE, etc. Furthermore, I would make sure there was a clear line of communication with teachers, friends, and loved ones on what’s happening so that they can help, intervene, and provide support. And if each of those steps had been followed and the bully STILL continued to target the student and continued to intentionally and repetitively demean; belittle; or hurt them—I would advise that student to stand up for themselves and use their martial arts.
This, unfortunately, is where we find ourselves in the case of police brutality in response to the murder of George Floyd. It’s time for self-defense. It’s time to use appropriate action to demand change. It’s time to look the bully in the eye and put our life force behind the values of equality, justice, and fairness. Enough is enough. If words towards a bully are falling on deaf ears and there is no change in actions or behavior, it’s time to act. It’s in this phase, however, that we have to be the most careful and conscious. We’re no longer tossing around words and ideas, we’re moving towards confrontation and our personal safety will be at risk. And it’s in this phase that we’re most likely to lose our cool, escalate and overly agitate, or even act in a way that’s reckless that we might later regret. This is NOT the time for us to lose ourselves—this is the time when we need to stay the MOST focused.
Anger, rage, and hate are POWERFUL motivators but can blind us to our actions. They make us say things we don’t mean to say and do things we don’t mean to do—even if what got us to that point of anger, rage, or hate is justified. We’ve all been there. This is why, in Martial Arts, we spend such an incredible amount of time role-playing, simulating, and practicing self-defense situations—because when the time comes to act, it’s incredibly easy to freeze up or lose ourselves in a blinding storm of emotions and adrenaline that lead us to uncontrollably destroy everything (and everyone) in sight.
But, if you’re able to stay calm, collected, and focused, you can act in a way that not only neutralizes the aggressor, but leaves the whole environment better for everybody. This is the type of action—self-defense—that we should be striving to take during times like this. We have to control our actions so as to control the message that we want conveyed. We don’t want the message to be about looting and more violence to and from police—we want the message to be about justice for Floyd and all of the other victims of police brutality and reforming the policing and justice systems altogether.
Destroying local businesses, setting cars on fire, and attacking unassociated police officers in response to police brutality is like punching walls, throwing bicycles, and attacking all of the bystander students who were around when confronting a bully. The actions are understood, we’ve all felt the uncontrollable effects of rage, but the consequences to those actions don’t lead to the outcome we really desire—justice and reform or a well handled bullying situation. It leads to a convoluted message, (more) unjustified pain, and a bunch of clean-up.
Better to channel all of that inner emotion and point it directly towards the bully. And in the case of police brutality? That energy should be pointed directly to where it’s going to be felt the most. You can demand police accountability from your legislators, post loud and clear on all of your media outlets, comment on other people’s posts, have conversations with people in your circle, make a donation to the front-line organizations, join a protest (if you feel you can do so safely), offer resources to protestors and affected communities in your area, talk to police officers and people in the justice department, or even reach out to and contact the Minnesota Justice Departments and Police Departments and convey to them directly how you feel. For a complete list of specific actions you can take, I found this website to be incredibly informative.
Be safe, speak up, stand up to injustice, and let’s take actions for a better tomorrow—in a focused and pointed manner that’s going to have the greatest impact on the mission at hand. Let’s not lose sight of the mission in a blind response of rage.
Read Next: 40 Empowering Quotes on Justice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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