How do we explain Ferguson, Mo., and the death of Michael Brown to our kids? How do we help them make sense of the death of New York’s Eric Garner, who kept repeating “I can’t breathe” while he was held in a chokehold?
None of us knows all the facts. We know what we have seen on TV and on the Internet. We’ve heard conflicting reports from commentators, politicians and ordinary citizens. Our first big hurdle, as parents, is to teach our kids to listen to all sides and keep listening, reading and learning.
That’s almost impossible today in a boisterous society that seems to have shifted to a “Shoot first and ask questions later” mentality. How can reason prevail when we are obsessed with getting even? It seems that Main Street USA has morphed into the O.K. Corral.
How do we — and law enforcement — respond to manufacturers who create a toy pistol that looks just as authentic as the real thing? How can we tell right from wrong, real from fake? How can we protect and serve ourselves and others? How can rational discourse trump adrenaline and testosterone that have run amok?
What is most difficult to understand and to explain to our kids is the aftermath of such events as Ferguson and New York — the protests that take the form of violence and destruction of personal and public property. How does burning down someone’s business atone for the death of a young man, armed or unarmed? Business owners who lost their livelihood were both black and white. How does that make any sense? Looters loot because they are thugs no matter what color their skin. They are not protesters. They are law breakers.