I didn't watch the Oscars, but I heard about what happened. I so appreciate your thoughtful discussion of your thoughts and responses.
I grew up in a family where violence was very normal - a family where you never knew what would set off a violent response. I have worked tirelessly to stop that cycle of violence and I have with my family, to be sure, but the harder work is recognizing and rooting it out of myself.
When I read about what happened, my first thought was, "Good for him." Which speaks volumes to the way violence is encouraged as a valid response in our culture and how embedded that protective, defensive stance is in ME.
However, I too am sorry that this will become a "thing" that people will refer to in relation to Black people in America - it would be wonderful if we could discuss (or just drop it, really) the act as something that an individual did for various reasons.
I didn't watch the Oscars, but I heard about what happened. I so appreciate your thoughtful discussion of your thoughts and responses.
I grew up in a family where violence was very normal - a family where you never knew what would set off a violent response. I have worked tirelessly to stop that cycle of violence and I have with my family, to be sure, but the harder work is recognizing and rooting it out of myself.
When I read about what happened, my first thought was, "Good for him." Which speaks volumes to the way violence is encouraged as a valid response in our culture and how embedded that protective, defensive stance is in ME.
However, I too am sorry that this will become a "thing" that people will refer to in relation to Black people in America - it would be wonderful if we could discuss (or just drop it, really) the act as something that an individual did for various reasons.
I have noticed that folks who have experienced physical trauma were deeply impacted by this. Thank you for commenting.