FOLIO
On May 22, something terrible happenedin my neighborhood. A young man was shot by a police officer. The circumstances leading up to the shooting are a matter for the news to report and folks in general to parse out. What I want to talk about is how my community has reacted.
You see, I live in the oldest community in Jacksonville. We are ground zero of the urban core. We are racially, economically, and politically diverse. Though having moved here only two years or so ago, I am fully aware of the long-standing reputation of our neighborhood as crime-ridden and unsafe. It’s an undeserved reputation, statistically. Our neighborhood is about as plagued with crime as any other. No more than most. Due to that long-standing reputation, however, we seem to have a bit of PTSD about it. We want so desperately to be seen as welcoming, safe, secure, and united that we overreact to the most minor criminal activity, both real and perceived. On one hand, it unites us. We watch out for one another. On the other hand, it divides us. We see those who may be “other” than we are as a potential threat.
The reactions to the recent police shooting have run the gamut from the expected (sad to say that these shootings are so commonplace that “expected” reactions are a thing) to the completely unexpected.
First, the expected: the “black and white” reactions. “The thug deserved to be shot, and if he weren’t a criminal he’d be alive” on one side and “That officer shot an unarmed man and has to be held accountable” on the other. Some have even taken to social media to denounce the alleged eyewitnesses as lacking credibility because of who they are perceived to be. It’s two sides of the same coin. Absent any nuance, and absent understanding that situations involving conflict of any sort are rarely that simple.
There’s the “there goes the neighborhood” reaction. “We had such a nice home tour and this just negates all that good press.” Or: “I’m getting out of here!” Or even: “This isn’t good for the neighborhood image and certainly won’t help our efforts to revitalize.” I, personally, find that reaction, though perhaps valid, dismissive of the fact that someone took a life and someone lost a life.
Then there’s the unexpected reaction that reminds me why I choose to live and engage in this community. It’s the “how can I help?” reaction. I’ve seen neighbors offer footage from their porch cameras (which many have) to help with the investigation of exactly what happened. I’ve seen neighbors speak about a mother who is grieving for her son, whether that son may or may not have been a “bad guy,” with compassion and true sympathy. I’ve seen a neighbor offering bottles of water to a group protesting right outside her door; neighbors who recognize that, right or wrong, the police officer took a life, and that changes a person. He will have his own grief process and investigation to deal with. If the investigation finds that he acted improperly, he’ll be held accountable. I’ve seen neighbors willing to sit and speak with one another to ask what can be done, as a community, to help, and how we can come to better understand, live, and work with one another.
This could have happened in any community in this city. It just happened to occur in mine.
We can allow this tragedy to divide us in any number of ways or by any number of categories, or we can allow it to bring us together, same as any community. It is not the tragedy that will define us, not to ourselves or to those who view us from outside; it will be our reactions that tell
the story.
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Moody is the director of real estate services for Integrity Law, P.A.
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