There is a lot of talk about the implications of the race of the two individuals involved in the Academy Awards altercation. They were both Black men. But there are two other broad categories that I think are even more significant. Gender and age.
I doubt the physical confrontation would have happened if either of the individuals was a woman, Black or otherwise. I doubt it would have happened if either was over 50 years old (or under 15).
I can also easily imagine that it would have happened if either was an insulting or insulted white male. I’m not denying there may be an interesting racial angle to this, but more important, I believe, is that it was two posturing, relatively young, adult males.
I have the same observation about the Black Lives Matter movement. Almost all of the incidents involve adult males. The victim is usually a Black adult male, the bad cop usually a white adult male. If a movie were to be made, there wouldn’t be any parts for women or old men of any race, because neither of those would trigger whatever it is that prompts males to fight.
Look at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, who were the people involved that thought violence was the answer to political grievance? Angry adult males, in that case mostly (all?) white ones.
These days it’s impossible for any white person to not examine their own racial prejudices. I was lost and driving in an area of town I probably shouldn’t have been. A Black teenager, on a poorly lit street, sauntered in front of my car and gave me a look like I wasn’t going anywhere until he decided to move. I was scared. Nothing really happened, he passed, I drove on, but was I prejudiced? Scared because he was Black?
Well, partly yes. It probably was in my mind that he would have no problem bringing harm to me. Much the same way a Black man, pulled over for a traffic stop, by a white male cop, must fear that that cop might have no problem bringing harm to him.
But in my case, more important was age and gender. Had it been a Black woman crossing my path, or an older Black man, there would have been no issue. And in fact, our town was relatively well integrated and I never harbored any thoughts one way or the other passing our Black neighbors (this wasn’t in Shelburne Falls) in the street. They were just people. But a young, Black male with attitude? The three attributes together caused me alarm.
And I think this is where the bigger problem lies. We live in a society where guns and violence are celebrated as the way for problems to be solved, usually by men willing to fight. Whether it was Will Smith defending the honor of his wife, or the Proud Boys doing what they felt was the best for our country, the answer they chose was violence, and that is the product of our country’s culture.
Dennis Merritt lives in Shelburne Falls.