Remembering Tiananmen

Thirty one years ago today the protests against the communist government in China were put down.
Many of us remember the iconic photo of the Tank Man, who bravely stood in front of a line of tanks heading to Tiananmen Square While he may have escaped, thousands of others did not when the army opened fire on the protesters (https://news.yahoo.com/tiananmen-square-massacre-tank-man-111656080.html). Their bodies were unceremoniously removed by bulldozers for incineration (https://news.yahoo.com/tiananmen-square-massacre-tank-man-111656080.html).

I recall first hearing the news of the massacre in my car. I was going grocery shopping that morning. I stopped and sat stunned in my car as I listened to the entire news report. I had been hopeful that reform could happen in China as it had in many other communist countries. The first elections after the fall of communism in Poland also happened on June 4, 1989 with Solidarity winning a decisive victory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Polish_legislative_election). The news of the Tiananmem massacre crushed my hope for reform.

Reporting of the crackdown was difficult as satellite transmissions for most networks were cut off (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests). Reporters tried to continue reporting, using telephones and smuggling footage out of the country (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests). World leaders, like George HW Bush and Margaret Thatcher condemned the crackdown (https://news.yahoo.com/tiananmen-square-massacre-tank-man-111656080.html).

One person, not yet a leader, praised the Chinese leaders for their "strength" in putting down the protests in a Playboy interview in 1990 (https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/old-trump-interview-with-playboy-resurfaces-discusses-strength-of-china-s-response-in-tiananmen-square?fbclid=IwAR2QxhOaP97117jpwKllnJoc5SmdAazjxFnr4ncVBraDY92YUQoTDKNiaTo). He also commented that Gorbachev did not have "a firm enough hand." More recently, this same person, now a President, has wanted to deploy the US military to suppress Black Lives Matter protests (https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/old-trump-interview-with-playboy-resurfaces-discusses-strength-of-china-s-response-in-tiananmen-square?fbclid=IwAR2QxhOaP97117jpwKllnJoc5SmdAazjxFnr4ncVBraDY92YUQoTDKNiaTo).

As I watch events unfolding now, I am again worried for the future. I pray for a future in which people can be free to express their opinions. 

Black Lives Matter

I am a fair skinned white woman. I have friends who are police officers. One friend even told me about killing someone in the line of duty. His partner was killed, and my friend was injured in a shootout with someone they had gone to arrest. My friend was off work for about a year due to his injuries. I don't recall my friend mentioning the race of the person whom he killed.

Yet, I have experienced fear of the police, too. The most recent was when a faulty alarm system called the police to my home for a suspected home invasion. The police had guns drawn when I answered the door. They walked through my house and asked to see my ID. I had to go to get it, and they followed me, guns drawn the whole time. Finally they left. I know that my age and skin color likely helped to save my life that day. But, I was scared by having a gun pointed at me by a police officer in my own house.

The worst such experience was in another country when I was not allowed to board a tour bus to cross from the border to leave the country. I was told to stand in front of a wall. Three young soldiers trained their weapons on me, while an officer asked questions in a language I did not understand. All I could think of was to try to calm myself. I told them I would answer questions in any of the 3 languages I knew at the time. I kept repeating this in each of the languages. I prayed they did not shoot me. I prayed that if they didn't let me go I would end up in a Czech prison rather than a Soviet gulag. I knew stories about gulags from family and friends who had escaped with the Anders (Polish) Army during WWII. Fortunately, the tour bus driver refused to leave without me, so they finally let me go. I had just turned 15.

I know the fear, but, fortunately, it is not a daily event for me. That is one of the benefits of white privilege. Sadly, many Americans experience this fear frequently. Driving while Black, Jogging while Black, Sleeping while Black, Playing while Black, Birdwatching while Black could all end in death. It's not possible to anticipate when such an event. But, even if such an event never happens to an individual or doesn't result in death, worry about the risk can lead to stress and the attendant health problems. And, these health problems may shorten lives. Black Americans have life expectancies that are 3 years shorter for women and 5 years shorter for men than white Americans (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf). Black Americans also are suffering higher death rates from coronavirus than white Americans, in part due to the increased toll of stress related illnesses.

I understand the anger of those for whom it is a daily event. These killings need to stop. They never should have been a fact of life for so many. All people should be treated equally. We must, as a society, work to change attitudes. Martin Luther King dreamed of a place when a person is judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I do, too.