Friendly Beer Summit

The notion that the Gates arrest was unrelated to race is preposterous. That it happened in Boston, a city with history of tense racial division, is not surprising. Sgt. Crowley’s response, although blurred with racism, reflects an underlying sentiment of police superiority, their contempt for those who question their authority, as if it didn’t come from the people they police. Our president recently remarked how he considers America exceptional among nations; untimely as it was, this incident is neither novel nor uncommon. And while talking heads debated who was to blame, I wondered why there wasn’t a 5th person at the White House Beer Summit, the 911 caller.

We are engaged in a war for the future of America. Distractingly the corporatist recruit your mind to sacrifice your child’s and grandchild’s earnings, and enlist your friends to fight on battlefields of blood and oil, the war will be won in your home, your neighborhood. The true battle for hearts and minds need be fought right outside your door.

How many of us know our neighbors? Introduced ourselves to the new family on the block? Look out for suspicious activity on the street? Do we consider our homes to be in neighborhoods anymore?

Most decisions in life aren’t black or white; we generally find a balance in life. We live in the gray. We are forced to choose between being watchful nosy neighbor or selfish uninvolved recluse. But even in this seemingly innocuous gray area, racism or perhaps unfamiliarity clouds our judgment, creates situations where a man gets arrested for entering his own home. I wasn’t with the 911 caller that Thursday in July. I don’t know if the voyeur’s line of sight was obscured by an errant leaf or untrimmed hedges. I do know that this all-seeing-eye doesn’t know his neighbor from Adam. And probably hasn’t apologized for their involvement in this situation. And this bothers me.

America is in trying times. The empire is imploding, slowly. Now is the time to build partnerships, alliances bigger than income, race, or color-state we were born. The future isn’t hopeful when we can’t introduce ourselves to our neighbors. Perhaps we can start being an exceptional nation by walking across the street and inviting the neighbor over for a Beer Summit.

"To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality."

-John Locke